The dollar and major crypto assets were bolstered by what appears to be safety buying from late Friday to early Saturday as investors and speculators have turned to anti-inflation assets on worries about the pace of the economic recovery due to new Covid-19 vaccine hurdles.
On the back of a relative pickup in rick aversion, stocks, crude oil and Treasury yields slipped while the safe-haven liquid U.S. dollar drew buyers against the euro, sterling and antipodean currencies.
In the crypto world, the past two days were mostly in the relative pullback and consolidation stage although there has been positive traction in the past 12 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) has jumped out of the tight range it was in the past 72 hours to above US $58,000 level although it appears to be in the strong resistance zone. A similar surge in the past days was sold off sharply and eventually bulls lost the strength to push high.
Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin, has seen a remarkable week with its surge to a record high of near $US 2,800 buffeted by its development progress/upgrade, a buoyant sentiment, and a resurgent bitcoin - and news about its potential institutional adaptation (the European Investment Bank (EIB reportedly intends to issue a digital bond sale on the ethereum blockchain network).
Ethereum has appreciated over ten fold year on year from its around $200 price level last year this time, promoting market watchers to think it may overtake its ancestor in the not too distant future. While the Ether price is currently sitting at record levels, no one can accurately predict where it’s heading next in the fast-moving world of crypto assets.
Among the Top 10 variable digital coins, bitcoin (BTC) is right now changing virtual hands at US $58,100, ethereum (ETH) at US $2,780, ripple (XRP) at US $1.58, Binance Coin (BNB) at US $620, cardano (ADA) at US $1.34, Dogecoin (DOGE) at US $0.32, ChainLink (Link) at US $37.80, Stellar (XLM) at $0.52, Litecoin (LTC) at US $269 and Vechain (VET) at US $0.19.
Gold is slightly down $1770, US 10-year yields slipped to 1.62%, S&P 500 lost to 4181, WTI crude oil fell to $63.60.
The euro fell to $1.2020, sterling to $1.3828, Aussie to $0.7711 and Kiwi to $0.7159 against the greenback. Yen is up at $109.30.
On the news side, the market was caught up by an Imperial College study of the Pfizer vaccine among UK healthcare workers that found people who have had only one dose are at risk from covid variants. The negative impact was likely because many countries have managed to provide the first dose and delaying the second dose due to supply issues. So, this would be negative for the currently expected pace of economic recovery.
Risk Warning: Cryptocurrency is a unregulated virtual notoriously volatile instrument with a high level of risk. Any news, opinions, research, data, or other information contained within this website is provided for news reporting purposes as general market commentary and does not constitute investment or trading advice.
