Central bankers recall USD bulls, gold stays pressured but BTC rebounds

A slew of central bank policymakers reiterated their hawkish bias on Thursday, which in turn filled fresh life into the US Treasury yields and the US dollar. The resulted risk-aversion weighed on equities and Antipodeans, despite firmer US data and upbeat earnings.

The USD buying and firmer bond yields weigh on the Asia-Pacific shares during early Friday while downbeat economics from the UK and Germany keep bears hopeful at Europe and London markets.

Oil prices fail to keep the previous day’s rebound amid global economic growth concerns whereas BTCUSD and ETHUSD struggle to reject the three-week downtrend with mild intraday gains.

Headline PMIs for April and Canadian Retail Sales could entertain traders going forward but Fedspeak and the geopolitics are likely to gain major attention.

Following is the list of major assets’ latest performances:

• Brent oil remains on the way to weekly losses, down 1.0% around $107.50 at the latest.
• GOLD struggles around $1,950 while bracing for the first negative week in three.
• The USD Index approaches 101.00, up 0.20% by the press time.
• FTSE 100 rises 0.70% but DAX and EUROSTOXX50 drop over 1.50%.
• Dow Jones and S&P 500 declined 1.05% and 1.48%, Nasdaq slumped over 2.0%
• BTCUSD and ETHUSD fade the latest recovery moves but stays on the way to weekly gains around $40,500 and $3,000 respectively.

Rate hike calls obstruct recovery moves

While Fed Chair Powell and ECB President Lagarde refrained from any major surprises, the usually dovish members, namely Fed’s Daly and ECB’s Luis de Guindos grabbed market attention by suggesting fierce rate hikes going forward. 

The hawkish central bank speakers recalled bond bears and ignored softer US Philadelphia Fed index, as well as risk-positive jobless claims, which in turn favored the USD Index (DXY) to restore the upside momentum towards 101.00. Gold prices, however, remain pressured despite gaining a bit due to their traditional safe-haven appeal whereas Brent oil remains on the way to the biggest weekly loss in three.

Adding to the risk-off mood are the challenges to the global economic growth emanating from the Russia-Ukraine crisis and China’s covid conditions, recently highlighted by the IMF and the World Bank.

Cryptocurrencies are gradually pushing back the bears as small investors increase positions amid hopes of positive change. However, firmer USD and the Western stipulations, as well as China’s crackdown, seem to challenge the BTC and ETH bulls.

⏫ 🟢 Strong buy: USDJPY

⏬ 🔴 Strong sell: Nasdaq

⬆️ 🟢 Buy: ETH/USD, BTC/USD, USD Index

⬇️ 🔴 Sell: DOW JONES, S&P 500, DAX, FTSE 100, brent oil, silver, gold

PMIs to offer an active session but the weekly move to remain intact

Given the major central banks’ readiness for tighter monetary policies, today’s preliminary PMIs for April may offer additional support to the USD while also drowning equities and commodity-linked currencies.

It’s worth observing that a light macro from China and Ukraine seemed to have stopped bears of late and may add to the risk-aversion should the geopolitical, virus woes escalate during the US session. 

That said, firmer US dollar should join economic fears to weigh on the energy prices, as well as equities, whereas cryptocurrencies could keep the latest rebound as traders take advantage of lower prices.

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