Bitcoin and altcoins
Bitcoin and Ethereum fell slightly shortly after first-quarter economic growth fell short of expectations.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.6% at the start of the year, well below economists’ expectations. Before the slowdown, GDP had grown by more than 2% for six consecutive quarters.
The report said a surge in residential construction and an increase in consumer spending were offset by a drop in exports and a decline in inventories. Thursday’s weak GDP data follows a 3.4% annual growth rate late last year.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin price bottomed out around $62,800 yesterday before recovering slightly, closing higher on a daily basis and currently trading just above $64,500.
However, the GDP report showed that core personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation measure, rose 3.7% in the first quarter. Bullard said a 2% rate hike in the fourth quarter of 2023 could affect the Fed's rate cut roadmap.
The shift in expectations for rate cuts, coupled with rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, has caused risk assets, including Bitcoin, to fall sharply this month. Expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady in May rose to 90% from 83% the day before, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Altcoin market mixed
On the bright side, Wormhole (W) led the market with a 14% profit.
Next are Bonk (BONK), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), BitTorent (BTT), THETA Network (THETA), Conflux (CFX), Sei (SEI), Synthetix (SNX), Fantom (FTM), dogwifhat (WIF), MultiversX (EGLD), Arweave (AR), TRON (TRX), Ethena (ENA)... with an increase of 3-8%.
On the other hand, EOS (EOS) was the worst performing project, losing more than 13% of its value on the day.
Ronin (RON), Pendle (PENDLE), ImmutableX (IMX), Stacks (STX), ORDI (ORDI), Core (CORE), Akash Network (AKT), Bitcoin SV (BSV), Jupiter (JUP), Sui Project (SUI), Celestia (TIA)… fell 3-7%.
Ethereum (ETH) fell slightly yesterday, hitting a local bottom at $3,072 after the GDP announcement. However, the market has since recovered, closing higher and currently trading around $3,150.
(Personal opinion, not a recommendation)
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