Yesterday’s Market Wrap

Yesterday was a manufacturing day, as many such reports from around the globe were released which showed a slight slowdown in April. Although services took most of the attention, after the considerable slowdown in the UK during the European session and later in the US session US services also weakened considerably. This comes as a result of surging prices for almost everything, which is diminishing the purchasing power of the consumer.

Bank of England has been at the forefront of hiking interest rates, which is also hurting the consumer as mortgage and loan rates increase as well. This puts central banks at a difficult spot and it seems like the global economy might be heading toward a recession, and central banks can’t do anything about it, since the increase in prices is a politically created problem.

The Data Agenda Today

Today’ the Reserve Bank of New Zealand increased interest rates for the fifth time in a row since October last year. They are delivering a 50 bps rate hike for the second time, beating the FED on it, but as the situation is unfolding in the UK, these hikes won’t help lower inflation while hurting the consumer and the economy altogether. We have a number of speeches from central bankers on schedule today and the minutes from the last FOMC meeting in the evening.

Forex Signals Update

After closing last week positively, yesterday we opened five forex signals. The first two hit stop loss while the other three closed in profit, one of which was a long-term signal in Gold. So, we started the week on a positive foot and will hopefully continue like this throughout the week.

EUR/GBP – Sell Signal

EUR/GBP made a bullish move earlier this month, as the Euro started increasing more than the GBP, but eventually, the buying pressure ended and this pair was slowly sliding lower. We decided to open a sell signal as the price fell below the 200 SMA (purple) again, but the slowdown in UK services sent the GBP down and EUR/GBP popped higher, triggering the stop loss.

EUR/GBP – 60 minute chart

 GOLD – Buy Signal

Gold used to be bearish since early March. when it pushed above $2,000 but failed to make new highs and turned lower. Although, the USD uptrend stopped by the middle of this month and Gold started reversing higher. We have had several buy signals on Gold, the last of which we opened at the 20 SMA (gray) on the H4 chart, which closed in profit as the bullish momentum resumed again.

Gold XAU- H4 chart

Cryptocurrency Update

Cryptocurrencies have been bearish in the previous weeks, but in the last two weeks the crypto market has consolidated, trading sideways. BITCOIN traded around the $30,000 level during most of the week while Ethereum consolidated around $2,000. Neither sellers nor buyers have the courage to take the situation in hand, so we are just watching for now.

Will last Summer’s Low Hold for FTM/USD?

Fantom crypto was showing strong bullish pressure until the middle of January, when it retested the previous highs below $3.50. But eventually, the negative sentiment in the crypto market and the Wonderland controversy pulled this cryptocurrency down. Then, two of the most prominent personnel left the fantom team, such as Andre Cronje who is a prolific developer and Anton Nell, a senior solutions architect weighed on FTM/USD further sending it below $1 at first and then to $0.25. Although Cronje might return to Fantom after some rummours we heard, which would be great news for FTM. The 20 daily SMA (gray) rejected the price on Monday, but we are seeing if the support from last summer at around $0.15 will hold.

FTM/USD – Daily chart

Buy Thorchain RUNE Around Here?

Thorchain token RUNE has been making lower highs since May last year when it peaked above $20, while the second high in November last year came to $17.60. The third high came after the recent upgrades from Thorchain, which sent RUNE/USD above $13.

We missed that great opportunity, particularly after the retreat below $3, although now the price has moved back above that support level. So, we are thinking about buying this cryptocurrency.

The area around $3 is a great place to buy Thorchain RUNE