The king cryptocurrency finds buyers above $47,000 with the third and final announcement of the ETF approval. The rise in altcoins has surpassed BTC with double-digit gains as Bitcoin dominance loosens. The ETH price surpassing $2,600 with the excitement of the spot ETH ETF has supported the rise in altcoins. ETH continues the day with a 10% gain.
US Inflation Data Announced
At the end of January, the Fed will announce its first interest rate decision of the year. No change in interest rates is expected at this meeting. However, the tone used by Powell is of critical importance. Since the last employment data was quite poor, the inflation data announced today was of critical importance. Although markets expect a 150bp rate cut this year, members are determined on a 75bp reduction.
Interest rate cuts, the faster and earlier they happen, will mean a bigger rally for risk markets. The continuation of the decline in inflation is also critical for the optimistic scenario to materialize. The expectation for December’s inflation was a slight increase to 3.2% annually from the previous 3.1%. A monthly increase of 0.2% is also forecasted.
The real decrease was expected for Core Inflation, which was critically important to be announced at 3.8% against the expected 4%. The announced data are as follows;
- US Inflation Announced: 3.4% (Expectation: 3.2%, Previous: 3.1%)
- US Core Inflation Announced: 3.9% (Expectation: 3.8%, Previous: 4%)
The released data, although weak, shows a decrease in core inflation which is optimistic, but the increase in headline inflation could lead to a short-term decline. The tone at the end-of-month meeting could turn hawkish.
