Bitcoin still waiting on moves
The largest digital token has traced a so-called rising wedge, which technical analysts view as a kind of calm before the storm. A rising wedge also formed between May and June, snapping an earlier sharp retreat in Bitcoin, only to give way to a 42% slump. The opinion is split on whether the token has found a floor around $20,000 after a 57% plunge this year.
Euro and USD are equal to each other
Euro dropped as much as 1.3% to $1,0005, eclipsing its low from last week. The last time it was this low was back in 2002. The euro's downward spiral has been swift and brutal. A string of increasingly-large Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes has supercharged the dollar. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has worsened the outlook for growth in the eurozone.
Euro shorts were one of the most popular trades among foreign-exchange professionals last week. Accounts added $769 million to net short bets totaling $2.2 billion, the most since late November. Deutsche Bank is pricing the euro to move in between a range of 0.95 to parity against the dollar. The dollar rose against most G10 currencies on Tuesday, pushing sterling down to a two-year low.
Euro is at the risk
S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 shed over 0.5% after a Wall Street slide Monday. Stoxx Europe 600 gauge slipped for a second day, though it pared the decline. An Asian share index headed for its biggest two-day drop in a month. The euro is within a whisker of parity with the greenback, sapped by the region's energy crisis and acute recession fears. The latest commentary highlighted both the central bank's hawkishness and the risks that come with aggressive interest-rate hikes.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2% as of 10:27 a.m. London time; Futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones were down 0.6%, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.3%.
Investor confidence in Germany's economy slumped to the lowest since 2011 as the country faces the growing prospect of a recession. ZEW institute's gauge of expectations fell to -53.8 in July from -28 in the previous month, missing economists' estimates. Europe's largest economy is among the region's worst hit by the war in Ukraine as record inflation cools demand.
