Today's Highlights
The Fed Unwinds
Ethereum on Fire
Debate Night
Please note: All data, figures & graphs below are valid as of March 20th. All trading carries risk. Only risk capital you're prepared to lose.
Market Overview
The global stock rally is showing some signs of weakness this morning as investors contemplate just how far stocks can go in a world where interest rates are set to rise and trade barriers are being set up.
We've heard dozens of analysts over the past few weeks saying that the markets have priced in all of the good things about Trump's intended policies but that they're ignoring the bad stuff.
Events over the weekend was a gentle reminder of what type of bad stuff could potentially happen.
Trump's meeting with Merkel did not go smoothly at all and the G20 meeting did the exact opposite of promoting international trade. Still, there have not been any drastic steps taken as of yet by the Trump administration that hamper globalization, none that haven't been blocked by the courts anyway.
The general direction of the currency and commodities right now is a continuation in the direction sparked by the Fed's rate rise on March 15th.
As we can see, the US dollar spiked down during that announcement and has continued down since then.
Gold spiked up on the rate rise announcement and we can see which direction that's been going as well.
Stock markets, on the other hand, spiked up on the rate hike, but have largely reversed that move already.
Here's the DAX in Germany for example...
It's a Crypto World
The world's first and still largest cryptocurrency is also showing some distinct signs of weakens. On Friday's report, we mentioned that the total amount of value on the Bitcoin Blockchain was above $18 billion. Today this number has fallen below $17 billion.
For now, the shiny digital coin has come down almost $300 a coin from the all-time high on March 3rd.
There is an increasing concern in the Bitcoin community that as the network grows, transactions will take longer and become more expensive. Even though there have been several potential solutions proposed, the community doesn't seem to be fully satisfied with any of them and for now there is no consensus about which direction the digital gold will take.
Rather, the consensus that is being felt strongly on the eToro network and broadly throughout the tech world is a surge in Ethereum. And it's not just the price either.
Average daily volumes on the Ethereum network have gone from an average of $20 million in August to $450 million today. As well, we're seeing thousands of new Ethereum wallets being created every day.
Several online cryptocurrency exchanges are currently backed up with new business, everybody seems to want a piece of this new technology.
For now, the price is hovering around $45 per coin but there's really no telling where that will be by the end of the week.
Debate Tonight
All five of France's presidential candidates will be on stage debating tonight. For now, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron are tied for first place in the polls. Both with about 26% of the voters backing them in the first round of the election on April 23rd.
If the polls are right, we are very likely to see these two going head to head on May 7th. The question then becomes who else can they convince to join their side.
Le Pen and Macron will be directly targeting supporters of Francois Fillion and the other candidates tonight as they keep their eyes on the final round.
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.