On Monday (January 15) in the Asian market, the US dollar index rose to 102.46 to maintain a short-term bullish market, but Barclays Bank expected the Fed to cut interest rates in March ahead of schedule, and dovish pricing regained support. Gold rebounded to $2,050, and bullish traders held their ground. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's super charging station is nearing completion, and it is rumored that Dogecoin payments will be available. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink hinted that both stock and bond settlements will be tokenized. Bitcoin crashed and encountered a strong pull-up, and the price of the currency rebounded to above $42,200.
Fed officials send mixed signals, "dovish" rate cut pricing regains support
Uncertainty continued with mixed messages from Federal Reserve officials, the latest coming from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.
She said the December U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed that the work was not yet done. She mentioned: "Inflation is forecast to continue to decline this year, and we will not reach our 2% target this year. As the data comes in, the Fed is in a good position to assess."
"The CPI report doesn't tell us that inflation progress has stalled, but it tells us there is more work to do. Contacts said the labor market is still tight, but not as tight as before. I think it was too early to cut interest rates in March. We haven't cut interest rates yet. We need more evidence that the economy is developing as expected," she continued.
But in a report released by Barclays analysts, they predicted that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) would cut the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at its March meeting. The bank had previously predicted that the first rate cut would take place in June.
After the US CPI exceeded expectations, but the producer price index (PPI) was lower than expected across the board, the market is looking forward to major economic data this week, including US retail sales data. Monday will be a public holiday in the United States. In addition to US retail sales, this week there will be Canada's consumer price index, changes in the number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the UK, the initial value of the US unit consumer confidence index, the US Empire State Manufacturing Index, the number of initial unemployment claims in the United States, UK retail sales, Australia's unemployment rate, and China's industrial production.
USD technical analysis: No significant directional indicators
DailyForex analyst Adam Lemon said the U.S. dollar index formed a doji candlestick last week but did not give any significant directional indicators.
The weekly closing price is lower than the price three months ago, but higher than the price six months ago, showing a mixed long-term trend.
It is worth noting that there are several bearish factors, including the weekly candle having a significant upper shadow, which appears to have once again rejected the new key resistance level of 102.57, with all price action occurring below this level.
The recent price action has invalidated the previous critical support at 101.56.
For these reasons, Lemon is prepared to short the U.S. dollar, but he is cautious because it is still January and the direction of the market may be difficult to predict.
Gold technical analysis: long-term buy and hold situation remains unchanged
Precious metals analyst Christopher Lewis noted that the gold market was very noisy this week, with an initial sharp drop followed by signs of recovery. Of course, gold will continue to be very sensitive to interest rates in the United States and other major economies. If interest rates continue to fall, then the market is likely to continue to see the gold market as one of the main beneficiaries.
The $2,075 level above is a huge resistance level for gold to overcome. If gold can break through this level, then the long-term "buy and hold" situation for gold prices may continue.
Musk's Supercharger Station is nearing completion and will reportedly accept Dogecoin payments
According to aerial footage recently released by FOX LA, Tesla's Supercharger station is under construction and is nearing completion. The charging station is located near Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The original restaurant Shakey's Pizza Parlor and Restaurant has disappeared and a disc-shaped building is emerging.
The construction plan shows that the super charging station will include a restaurant, an open-air drive-in cinema and 34 charging stations, 29 of which will be super charging stations, and the charging stations will be open to all electric car brands, not just Tesla. It is reported that waiters will deliver food on pulleys. This will be the first entertainment center in the United States that combines a restaurant, an open-air drive-in cinema and charging, and is expected to start operating at the end of this year.
It is worth noting that Musk personally tweeted in February 2022 that the super charging station will be open to Dogecoin payment. He wrote at the time: "The super charging station in the Hollywood area plans to install a futuristic restaurant or drive-in cinema, and you will be able to pay with Dogecoin."
Members of the Dogecoin community posted on Saturday that this Tesla Supercharger Station and its attached restaurant and drive-in cinema will accept Dogecoin, which is an exciting moment. The tweet immediately sparked heated discussions in the Dogecoin community and called for Dogecoin to rise to $1.
Musk revealed in a Twitter discussion this week that he still holds a large number of Dogecoins and has not sold any of them because Dogecoin is his favorite cryptocurrency. He did not mention whether he holds other cryptocurrencies, but he mentioned that his SpaceX holds Bitcoin.
Musk also mentioned earlier that he considered using Bitcoin on Mars, but there are still problems to be solved. At the same time, he is open to using Bitcoin on Twitter.
BlackRock reveals major financial reforms: stock and bond settlements will be tokenized
BlackRock, which manages more than $10 trillion in assets, submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF in June 2023, setting off a wave of Bitcoin spot ETF applications from traditional financial institutions. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Bitcoin spot ETF applications of 11 companies including BlackRock on January 11 last week, setting an important milestone for the cryptocurrency market.
Fink said in an interview with Bloomberg over the weekend that asset tokenization will be the next step for BlackRock after the Bitcoin spot ETF is listed. He said: "We believe that the next step will be the tokenization of financial assets, which means that each stock and bond will have its own CUSIP code, which will be recorded in a general ledger, and each investor, you and me, will have our own code, which is our own identity certificate."
The so-called CUSIP code, whose full name is Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures, is the American Bankers Association Committee's Uniform Securities Code Procedures. It is a number that identifies all U.S. stocks and registered bonds and is managed by the U.S. Uniform Securities Identification Committee (CUSIP).
Fink believes that through the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), all the current problems surrounding bonds, stocks and digital illegal activities can be eliminated. Most importantly, tokenization can be used to customize investment strategies that suit everyone. He explained: "We will be able to settle instantly. Think about how much it costs to settle bonds and stocks. If there is tokenization, everything can be done immediately because it is just a sub-account. We think this is a technological revolution in financial assets."
He previously pointed out that Bitcoin spot ETF is the first step in the technological revolution of the financial market, and the second step will be the tokenization of every financial asset. He sees the value of Ethereum ETF, and these are just the beginning of tokenization. "If you have tokenized securities and you have a tokenized identity, when you buy or sell an instrument, it will be recorded on a commonly established general ledger. Think about money laundering and other issues. Through the tokenized system, all corruption will be eliminated."
Bitcoin technical analysis: A tough battle between longs and shorts as bears maintain pressure
CoinTelegraph said that Bitcoin failed to maintain its price above $48,000 in the past few days, attracting short-term traders to take profits and began to fall sharply on January 12.
The bulls and bears are witnessing a tough battle near the support line of the ascending triangle pattern and although the buyers managed to defend the support line at the close of last week, they have not been able to start a meaningful recovery, which shows that the bears are maintaining the pressure.
The 20-day exponential moving average of $43,933 has started to turn down and the relative strength index (RSI) is just below the midpoint, which suggests that bears are attempting a comeback.
If the price sustains below the triangle, Bitcoin could drop to $40,000 and then to $37,980. Buyers must push the price above $44,700 to regain control.
