Investing.com – Take a peek at the top 5 things that rocked U.S. markets this week.
nflation, where art thou’?
Data this week showed the slowdown in inflation continued unabated, after U.S. consumer and wholesale inflation undershot forecasts, narrowing the Federal Reserve’s case for a third rate hike this year, forcing the dollar to give up gains against its rivals.
The minutes to Federal Reserve’s July meeting due next week, however, are expected to provide investors with fresh insight into the central bank’s thinking regarding monetary policy.
In July, the Fed kept rates unchanged, citing concerns over the stuttering pace of inflation.
US-North Korea tensions revived demand for gold
President Trump rattled markets late Tuesday, warning North Korea that any threats to the U.S. “will be met with fire and fury”. North Korea, however, shrugged off the warning and said it was "carefully examining" a plan to strike Guam, where a U.S. military base is located.
Geopolitical intensified later in the week, as Trump suggested his ‘fire and fury’ warning “may have not gone far enough”. Trump later added, American weapons were "locked and loaded" as Pyongyang accused him of driving the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.
Gold was the main beneficiary of rising U.S.-North Korea tensions, posting its biggest weekly gain in four months as investors piled into safe havens.
Bitcoin soared above $3,500 to record all-time highs
Bitcoin surged to all-time highs on Friday, a little over a week after bitcoin split into two, as sentiment on the digital currency improved amid bullish comments from analysts.
"Whether or not you believe in the merit of investing in cryptocurrencies (you know who you are), real dollars are at work here and warrant watching," Goldman Sachs noted in its question-and-answer report focused on cryptocurrencies.
Both Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum, followed bitcoin higher, as the latter hit one-month highs on Thursday.
Snap slid below $12 to record fresh new lows
Shares of Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) fell 14% on Friday, a day after the social media company reported a lower-than-expected number of daily active users for Snapchat, its popular messaging app, for the second quarter amid stiff competition from Facebook and Instagram.
Snap said on Thursday its daily active users (DAUs) rose to 173 million in the quarter ended June 30, below expectations of a rise to 175.2 million DAUs.
Shares of snap closed at $11.83, down about 60% from its peak of $29.44.