Wishing you a very happy May Day and Labor Day. Many markets across the globe are closed this morning so trading on currencies, commodities, and stocks could get pretty boring. However, there are some markets moving at a breakneck pace. Those of you who consider yourselves Cryptotraders know exactly what I'm talking about.
Today's Highlights
Time Extension
Brexit Underway
Huge Jump for Cryptos
Please note: All data, figures & graphs are valid as of May 1st. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.
Market Overview
The great dealmaker President Donald Trump was indeed able to strike a deal to keep the government open until September. By that time, they'll need to come out with a more long term budget plan.
A five month extension is quite significant and far more than most were expecting. The price for that amount of time was a wall. Trump says he still wants to build the southern border wall but by recognizing that congress will not have to pay for it, he's bought himself some extremely valuable time.
Chinese manufacturing data was published early Sunday morning confirming that there is indeed some level of contraction there. Most likely, the time the markets open this will be an obscure fact.
Over in France, there is one week left to the second round of their elections. Marin Le Pen is doing whatever it takes to bridge the gap between herself and Macron, including softening her stance on Frexit. She's now willing to consider keeping the Euro.
The USD/JPY managed to pop up above the 111.50 mark, now trading at 111.83.
Though the buck has been rising against many currencies over the last few days, it still remains pretty low.
On this next chart, we've put a yellow line on the 100-day moving average, to symbolize the average price of the dollar under a yellow haired president.
Cryptocurrency Shift
There's been a massive surge in cryptocurrency markets over the past week. Since Wednesday the values of the top digital coins have been bumped up significantly.
Money is flowing into digital assets at an unprecedented rate, which has been drastically accelerated in the last few days. One week ago, the total value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation broke above $30 Billion for the first time ever. Today, that number stands at more than $37 Billion.
Of that $7 Billion growth, $2 Billion was added to the market cap of Bitcoin and $3 Billion went straight into Ethereum.
Traders in eToro don't seem to be afraid of heights, in fact at these prices they're buying even more. At the moment, the sentiment on Bitcoin and Ethereum is long by 83% and 97% respectively.
The excitement here is way too big to be attributed to any possible ETF or even a possible solution to fix Bitcoin's scalability issues. Mass adoption of Bitcoin seems to be making a shift from being a distant dream to becoming a reality.
What Else?
This afternoon, we'll hear from the US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin. Steve's primary focus at the moment is to drastically reduce taxes. When the Trump administration published their "tax memo" last week they mentioned that there were still a lot of things that are "under consideration." Perhaps Steve will share with us today some further information about of those considerations.
The United States will also be publishing some PMI data after the opening bell. Remember, it's not a holiday in the USA. So though we may get some reduced liquidity this morning, we could well be in full swing by this evening.
Tonight, we'll get some more data from China and an interest rate decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Disclosure: This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or an investment recommendation. Past performance is not an indication of future results. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.