Adam Vettese (eToro) | The world’s three major cryptoassets, Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP failed to stave off the wider stock market sell off on Friday. Bitcoin fell sharply, coming close to $9,000 before recovering somewhat to trade around $9300 early on this morning. Similarly, Ethereum was down over 5%, reaching a low of $225 and is now trading around $233. XRP was down by nearly 5% too and is trading around $0.19 this morning.
Elsewhere the US Congress is mulling the idea of creating digital dollars to help the unbanked in America. It laid plans, according to Decrypt, for the Federal Reserve to provide bank accounts to those whom the banking industry does not. So-called “FEDaccounts” would operate through US Post Offices. Meanwhile former chairman of the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Chris Giancarlo recommended a form of Central Bank Digital Currency at a Congressional hearing.
What to watch
June consumer sentiment: On Friday, the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey will be released in the US, with economists anticipating that the index will tick up to 75 for the month, from 72.5 in May. Remember, the figure being reported does not include the impact of yesterday’s market selloff, when fears of a second virus wave hit home with investors. The US is a heavily consumer driven economy, and the figure will be watched closely, as ultimately it is the translation of economic reopenings to a resurgence in normal consumer behaviour that has got investors excited over the past month.
Import and export data: Also being reported on Friday are the latest US import and export numbers. The import and export price indices measure changes in the prices of goods and services coming in and out of the US. They have been of significant interest in recent history given the USA’s turbulent relations with some of its major trading partners – in particular China.
