The USD index continues to struggle below 96.00 despite the Fed’s looming meeting
Wall Street stocks fell on Friday, with all three major indexes having their worst weeks since 2020 when the pandemic began. The Nasdaq Composite declined 2.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.30%, and the S&P 500 slid 1.9%. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 5.7%, the Dow dropped 4.6% and the Nasdaq gave up 7.6% amid concerns the Federal Reserve will become more aggressive in tightening this year. In individual stocks, Netflix shares plunged 21.80% after the company forecast weak subscriber growth.
Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday as investors stayed cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve policy meeting that concludes on Wednesday. Should the central bank’s statement portray an urgency to act soon, market participants could price in a 50-basis-point rate hike in March. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.7%, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong falling 1.22%. Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite managed to bounce and settle just above the opening levels by the closing bell.
Meanwhile, the dollar is mostly up, with U.S. equity futures rebounding on Monday after Asian stocks came off early lows to turn mixed eventually. Still, the USD index continues to struggle below 96.00 despite the Fed’s looming meeting, suggesting market participants are still divided over FOMC. For the time being, it is widely expected that the first rate hike will take place in March, with 25 by hikes in each of the next eight quarters.
In other markets, cryptocurrencies keep bleeding these days. The bitcoin price plunged to six-month lows around $34,000 last week and was last seen clinging to the lower end of the extended trading range at the start of the week as sellers remain in control. Earlier on Monday, the BTCUSD pair was rejected from the $36,500 area, suggesting the recovery potential is limited at this point despite the oversold conditions. Should the pressure keep intensifying in the short term, the coin could target the $30,000 figure
