Crypto markets reacted negatively to last week’s big announcements from the White House regarding the strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Not even Trump’s advice to “never sell your Bitcoin” at Friday’s crypto summit was enough to boost the asset back over $90,000, and it has weakened over the weekend.
Markets will have key inflation reports to digest this week, and hotter-than-expected figures could rattle risk on assets such as stocks and crypto.
Economic Events March 10 to 14
Wednesday will see the release of February’s Core CPI data. The Consumer Price Index is one of the two key inflation indicators as it reflects price trends in the economy, shapes consumer spending, and directly affects the Fed’s policy rate decisions.
Bitcoin prices fell following higher-than-expected CPI figures in February, so history could repeat itself if the figures are not favorable.
“A hot CPI print will likely scare the market,” Bryant VanCronkhite, senior portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments, told Reuters. “The market still wants the Fed to come to the rescue… Until inflation and inflation expectations come down, the Fed is handcuffed,” he added.
The reports are followed by February’s PPI (Producer Price Index) report on Thursday, which reflects input prices for producers and manufacturers. This data measures the costs of producing consumer goods, which directly affects retail pricing and is also viewed as a signal of inflationary pressures.
US inflation has increased every month since September and hit 3% last month, and the trend is likely to continue with CPI for February expected to have climbed 0.3%, according to a Reuters poll.
The inflation reports will be among the last key pieces of data before the Federal Reserve next meets on March 18 and 19, when it is expected to hold its benchmark rate steady at 4.25% to 4.5%
Key Events This Week:
1. January JOLTS Job Openings data – Tuesday
2. EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook – Tuesday
3. February CPI Inflation data – Wednesday
4. Initial Jobless Claims data – Thursday
5. February PPI Inflation data – Thursday
6. MI Consumer Sentiment data -…
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 9, 2025
A preliminary consumer sentiment analysis is due on Friday, offering further insight into consumer inflation expectations.
This week, job openings and jobless claims reports will also be released, offering insight into changing labor market trends.
Crypto Market Outlook
Crypto markets continue to weaken with total capitalization tanking 6.5% on the day in a fall to $2.8 trillion.
Bitcoin has slumped 4.5% in a fall to just over $80,000 in early trading in Asia on Monday morning. The asset made a slight recovery to reclaim $82,000 at the time of writing, however, it remains down more than 11% since this time last week.
Ethereum has fared worse as usual, tanking 6% to a 16-month low of $2,000 on March 10 and it hasn’t shown signs of recovery.
The altcoins were bleeding with larger losses for Solana, Cardano, Dogecoin, Pi Network, Chainlink, and Hedera.
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