Last week in the news
Tariffs and inflation continue to be the major two words on the financial markets, shaping investors sentiment. The S&P 500 tried to start the week with a positive sentiment, but the two scary words spoiled the game, so the index ended the week almost flat, at the level of 5.282. On the other hand, the word “tariff” continues to strongly support the price of gold, which reached a fresh new all time highest level at $3.354. The US yields are showing a different sentiment, when it comes to potential negative impact on tariffs on the US economy, and especially, Fed's decision to make two rate cuts during the course of this year. The 10Y US benchmark yields dropped during the week, ending it at the level of 4,33%. The crypto market was left a bit behind investors' spotlight. BTC was testing the $85K resistance during the whole week, and was traded in a relatively short range.
The news of the week was that the ECB cut its reference interest rates for one more time by 25bps. In an after-the-meeting speech, ECB President Lagarde put trade tensions at the central point and that further restrictiveness of the monetary policy is meaningless. She also noted that a potential cut of 50 bps was also on the table during the ECB meeting. The high uncertainty of potential impact of trade tariffs remains a concern not only for investors on the US markets, but also for the ECB.
The ECB President Lagarde urged the introduction of the digital euro in Europe, during the press conference. She called for swift action on the legislative groundwork which will support the introduction of digital euro in the near future. She thinks that such a move is necessary in the current geopolitical environment, which will make the Euro economy more productive, competitive and resilient.
There has been a discussion in the news during the previous week, if China is offloading its holdings of US assets. It was based on the news that the largest sellers of US Treasuries two weeks ago were Japan and China. As per analysts involved in the matter, China is still holding around 50% of its foreign portfolios in the US assets. However, referring to recent Chinese sale of US Treasuries, analysts are noting that it might be rather a way to stabilize the renminbi-dollar exchange rate, then actual offloading of US assets. It is also noted that a strong sale of US assets could make renminbi quite stronger, which is not in the best interest of China at this moment.
The Canary Capital investment fund has filed with the SEC a proposal for a spot ETF which will track the price of Tron. The investment fund will also offer an extra yield through staking.
As Cointelegraph is reporting, one of the largest retailers in Europe, German Spar, is testing payments in Bitcoin at its store in Zug in Switzerland. This is by far the major crypto retail trial in Europe.
Crypto market cap
CRYPTO MARKET
The crypto market was relatively calm during the previous week. There has been a relatively smaller volatility compared to two weeks ago, which was part of markets focus on traditional markets and the word “tariffs”. There have been both weekly gainers and losers, while BTC managed to end the week flat compared to the week before. Total crypto market capitalization also remained flat on a weekly basis, with only a modest funds outflow of around $13B. Daily trading volumes were significantly decreased, to $73B from $130B traded two weeks ago. Total crypto market increase from the beginning of this year, still holds at -18%, with $580B outflow of funds.
There have been both gainers and losers among altcoins on a weekly basis. The major coin, BTC remained relatively flat w/w, without significant changes. ETH continues to lose in value. Last week the coin lost 1,5% in value or around $3B. XRP was also on a losing side, decreasing its cap by 2,5% w/w, or $3B. Some of the significant weekly losers include Theta and ZCash with weekly losses of around 10% each, while DOGE was down by 10,6%, followed by ADA, with a drop in value of 9%. On the opposite side was Solana, with a weekly gain of 6% or $4B. Filecoin was traded higher by 3%, and Ethereum Classic ended the week higher by 2,5%.
This week Filecoin had a much stronger weekly increase in coins on the market or 1,2%, which was significantly higher from average of 0,3% w/w. DOGE, Solana and Algorand had a weekly increase of circulating coins of 0,1%.
Crypto futures market
Crypto futures were also traded in a relaxed mode during the previous week. BTC futures were traded higher by around 1,2% for all maturities. BTC futures maturing as of the end of this year reached the last price at $88.895, while those maturing in December 2026 were last traded at $94.205.
ETH short term futures price levels were increased by around 1,3% on a weekly basis, while the longer ones were traded higher by 0,9%. ETH futures maturing in December 2025 closed the week at the level of $1.667, and those maturing a year later were last traded at $1.796.
