EUR/USD. The dollar is slowly weakening, the pair moved above Pivot Point 1.1240 last week, but is still within the five-week channel 1.1170-1.1350. As expected by 25% of experts, the bulls made an attempt to reach the level of 1.1400, but their attack choked quickly, and, turning at the height of 1.1370, the pair went down again, ending the five-day period in the 1.1300 zone.
The pressure on the American currency is explained by the improvement in the economic situation in a number of countries, including the EU. Enterprises have started working there, demand is recovering, buyers are returning to stores, unlike the United States, where even Fed officials doubt the ability of the economy to recover quickly. Thus, FOMC members Rosengren and Barkin noted that, having fulfilled the old orders, the industry has so far not received new ones. And this could lead to further printing of dollars and an increase in the quantitative easing (QE) program.
All this comes amid a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Wednesday, July 08, a new peak of infections was reached in the United States, 60 thousand people. The number of deaths doubled compared with average levels, reaching 1000 per day, which is a significant reason for the growth of pessimism among market participants.
The euro, on the contrary, feels better, thanks to the improvement of the epidemiological situation and the competent monetary and fiscal policy of the EU. Support for Europe is also provided by the rapidly strengthening yuan and, paradoxically, the US president Donald Trump. More precisely, his falling ratings, because of which he is now not up to the trade wars with China. And if Democrat Joe Biden becomes the new president, then Washington’s policy towards Beijing may change dramatically, which will lead to further growth of the Chinese and, as a consequence, European economies;
GBP/USD. In the last issue of the forecast, we wondered whether the growth of the pound was considered a temporary correction or a serious turnaround in the trend. The vast majority of indicators, along with graphical analysis, predicted a further rise for the pair. A total of 50% of experts also spoke in favor of its northward movement, with 30% pointing to a resistance of 1.2680 as a limiter. And they were right: the week’s high was recorded at 1.2670, followed by a slight bounce down and a finish at 1.2625.
The steady growth of the pound was facilitated by the widespread weakening of the dollar (the reasons are indicated above), as well as moderate optimism caused by the negotiations on the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU;
USD/JPY. Tokyo, like a number of US states, has also recorded a record rise in coronavirus cases. However, so far this is not very worrying for investors, especially since the data on actual orders for machine tools and equipment that became known this week turned out to be higher than forecast, which indicates some recovery in the Japanese economy.
Against the backdrop of a general weakening of the dollar, the yen was able to strengthen its position a bit: starting the week from 107.50, the pair sank to the horizon of 106.65 by Friday evening. The final chord of the week was set at 106.90;
cryptocurrencies. If a few months ago, the main topic of discussion was the question of whether Bitcoin can be considered a safe haven asset, now the topic of correlation of the main cryptocurrency with the stock market is constantly being discussed. For example, the Skew portal calculated that the correlation between bitcoin and the S&P500 index has now reached a historical high and currently its coefficient is approximately 66%. According to portal analysts, this means that Bitcoin has failed to become the antithesis of traditional finance and is moving in the same harness with them. Some even called bitcoin a “stock market startup.”
There is a certain logic to this, since the main source of financing for both markets, both the stock and crypto, have been central banks in recent months, and, first of all, the US Federal Reserve, which pours the economy with a huge amount of cheap money.
But if you look at the graphs, a completely different picture emerges. Since the May halving of the BTC, the S&P500 index has risen by about 9%, the Nasdaq 100 – by 19%, but bitcoin, having failed to gain a foothold above $10,000, has gone down and now is consolidated in the $9,000-9,500 zone. So where’s the correlation?
Unlike the stock market, bitcoin does not look like the most attractive asset at the moment, despite the entreaties of all kinds of crypto gurus. The main cryptocurrency continues to consume a huge amount of energy, and at its current price, it loses its supporters even among miners, whose revenue, according to Coindesk estimates, fell by 26% in June.
The cryptocurrency market capitalization has grown slightly over the past week, reaching $269 billion, and has only returned to where it was already on June 22 and 24. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index of Bitcoin has not changed at all for the week: its arrow is still at 41.
Such sluggishness of the main cryptocurrency plays into the hands of altcoins, especially since it has become much easier to buy them than a year or two ago. And if on May 15 the share of Bitcoin in the crypto market was 69.81%, now it has dropped to 62.79%. That is, in less than two months, the drop was 7.02% in absolute terms and 10% in relative terms.
Unlike BTC, many altcoins show impressive growth in July, and this can’t help but attract investor attention. So, for example, the growth of Ethereum (ETH/USD) at the high of July 07 was about 10%, Ripple (XRP/USD) – 20%, Cardano – 34%. The record holders were Dogecoin, which added 79% after the viral video in TikTok and VeChain with 101%.