is the crypto winter thawing into spring?
The battered cryptonews industry is still reeling from the humiliating market crash earlier this year. The price of many widely traded tokens plummeted, while popular narratives about the benefits of digital coins as a hedge against inflation or a store of value were abandoned. investor's business daily
At the same time, some once-leading companies in the sector - including crypto lending platform Celsius and hedge fund Three Arrows - collapsed in the wake of relentless market pressure.
In recent weeks, however, prices have stabilized.
The flagship cryptocurrency, bitcoin, is broadly hovering around the $20,000 to $25,000 mark, after reaching a peak of nearly $69,000 in November. The merge - the name given to Ethereum's move to a greener, less energy-intensive blockchain system - has so far failed to propel the equivalent coin to previous highs near $5,000.
Overall crypto futures volumes have also failed to gain momentum. Data provided to the Financial Times by analytics platform Crypto Compare shows that overall futures volumes have stagnated over the past three months.
Still, the relative stability of the industry's most popular tokens in recent weeks has fueled debate among speculators about when the so-called "crypto winter" can be considered spring. Scott Chipolina.
Did US consumer prices cool in September?
U.S. inflation is expected to have risen at a slightly slower pace in September than the previous month, driven by a drop in energy prices.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the overall U.S. consumer price index to be 8.1 percent year-over-year in September, compared with 8.3 percent in August. CPI is expected to have risen 0.2 percent month-over-month, compared with 0.1 percent in August.
The drag on CPI USA is likely due in part to a drop in energy costs, said Barclays analyst Jonathan Hill, who expects the data to show a decline in gasoline prices of about 6 percent.
However, forecasts show that the core CPI rate - which strips out the impact of volatile food and energy sectors - could be bolstered by the continued rise in shelter costs.
The consumer price index is expected to have reached 6.5 percent year-over-year and 0.5 percent month-over-month in September, up from 6.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, in August.
US home prices have fallen in recent months as higher interest rates have pushed up mortgage rates. That, in turn, has bolstered the rental market, where Barclays expects inflation data to show a 0.6 percent month-over-month increase in rents.
Data from CPI are expected a day after the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September meeting. Both the data and the minutes are likely to influence market expectations for the Fed's November meeting.
Futures markets are currently pricing in expectations of a fourth consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike next month. The tenor of the minutes and the level of inflation could bolster this view. Kate Duguid.
Did GDP decline in August?
The UK economy is expected to have contracted slightly in August after being apartment for most of this year. This is due to rising prices affecting household demand and economic activity.
Economists polled by Reuters expect GDP to have fallen 0.1 percent between July and August, after stagnating in the three months to July.
The data is also expected to show that industrial production contracted 0.2 percent from the previous month, while output in the services sector rose 0.1 percent.
For the three months ending in August, the economy is expected to be 0.2 percent smaller than the previous three months.
The U.K.'s economic outlook has not brightened, economists say, despite the government's plans to tackle rising energy costs and proposed tax cuts.
Sanjay Raja, an economist at Deutsche Bank Credit, said the U.K.'s economic outlook "has weakened further" following the Sept. 23 policy announcement. He expects household spending and business investment to be weaker than before the government announced the tax cuts and unemployment to rise from next year.
Despite fiscal measures intended to support real disposable income, "tighter financial conditions will offset much of the fiscal gains," Raja said.
He now expects the U.K. economy not to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. This is in stark contrast to all other G7 countries, which have already regained the ground lost during the health crisis.
The government has frozen household energy bills and cut taxes to spur growth. However, some economists expect a deep recession in the UK economy because the "mini" budget has led to a jump in interest rate expectations, adding a crisis in borrowing costs to the cost of living crisis.