This week, the global financial markets continued to stabilize following weeks of increased turmoil. Here are some of the most important updates of the week.
Cryptocurrencies
This week, the cryptocurrencies market started positively. On Tuesday, the currencies reached a weekly high with bitcoin reaching a high of $11,797.
Since then, the currencies started going down with bitcoin reaching its weekly low on Thursday when it reached $9,574.
The downward movements happened as traders took profits following a multi-week rally that started a two weeks ago. Since then, the currencies have risen by more than 50%.
The positive news came from South Korea which moved from threats to embracing the currencies.
Central Banks
This week, we received multiple words from key central bankers. On Tuesday, we received minutes from the Royal Bank of New Zealand’s last meeting. The minutes showed that while the members were optimistic about the economy and the hegemony of the global economy, they remained highly concerned about the ballooning mortgage debt. Week-to-date, the AUD is lower 1.50% against the dollar.
On Wednesday, the BOE held the inflation hearings where the members reaffirmed their past statements about hiking rates if inflation continues to rise. The pound is low by 0.44% against the dollar.
Global Stocks
The global stocks were significantly down this week as traders started questioning the long-term prospects. As of this writing, the Dow and S&P are down 0.94%, 1%, while the DAX and Nikkei were up 1.31% and 1.26% respectively. In the United States, the biggest stocks gainers were Home Depot, Exxon Mobil, and United Health, which gained by 1.32%, 1.30%, and 0.87% respectively.
Currencies
The dollar index was up by 1.41%. The upward momentum for the dollar came as investors forecasted that the Fed was likely to raise interest rates. This came after the Fed released the minutes for their latest FOMC meeting. The minutes showed that the Fed officials were optimistic about the economy, which they believe will be boosted by the tax cuts. Against the Euro, Yen, and Pound, the dollar was up by 0.77%, 0.40%, and 0.31% respectively.
