Stocks bounce, cryptocurrencies trade sideways despite disappointing inflation data 

Cryptocurrencies look like they are closing out a volatile week relatively flat

article-image

Ink Drop/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

US equities bounced Friday as positive big-tech earnings reports outweighed a disappointing inflation print that showed higher prices are proving more persistent than the Federal Reserve had hoped. Cryptocurrencies were little changed. 

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure showed prices increased 2.7% year-over-year in March. Analysts had called for a 2.6% increase. Excluding food and energy, the personal consumption expenditures price index showed a 2.8% annual increase last month, the Commerce Department reported Friday. 

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes were trending 1% and 2% higher, respectively, midway through Friday’s session. Analysts say big tech stocks were the market’s saving grace as solid earnings reports from Alphabet and Microsoft had shares up 10% and 3%, respectively. 

Read more: Federal Reserve holds interest rates, expects three cuts by end of year 

“The share price reaction, although relatively muted, isn’t to be sniffed at,” analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown wrote in a note Friday on Microsoft stock. 

“The recent GDP reading from the US was bleaker than expected, and didn’t lend itself well to growth-stock sympathism,” Hargreaves Lansdown analysts added. “To that end, the market’s reaction to these results mean more than in usual times.”

Tech and growth stocks have underperformed recently and yields have increased, Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research said, so a correction was due. 

Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, moved sideways Friday after a fairly tumultuous week. Bitcoin (BTC) was trending 0.4% higher to sit around $63,600 at time of publication while ether (ETH) dipped 0.3% lower to $3,100, per Coinbase. 

Bitcoin, which hit as high as $67,200 earlier in the week, is now down about 1.5% in the first week since the halving. Ether on the other hand has managed to stay in the green, gaining just under 1% in the past seven days. 

Traders are looking ahead to next week’s rate decision from the Fed, which will be announced on Wednesday. With the latest inflation numbers, Fed fund futures are showing a 3% chance of a rate cut, down from the 6% odds recorded on Thursday, according to data from CME Group. 

“While the March PCE report was only slightly higher than expectations on a year-over-year basis, inflation is proving to be stickier than expected and the idea of ‘reflation’ is taking hold,” Bret Kenwell, US investment analyst at eToro, said. “That doesn’t mean inflation will surge, but it’s one more argument to hold off on rate cuts.”


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (6).png

Research

In recent months, a number of highly accretive developments were implemented across the protocol to improve fee capture, expand product functionality, and ultimately drive value accrual to the RUNE token, with more upgrades on the immediate horizon. These developments include hiking the minimum swap fee parameter to increase revenue, adding a Burn System Income Lever to reduce the RUNE supply, the addition of COSM-WASM smart contracting and IBC to enable an application layer, new chain integrations, and more.

article-image

Former IRS agent and Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan will remain imprisoned in Nigeria’s Kuje prison

article-image

When Permissionless III wraps on Friday, there will be 26 days left until the 2024 presidential election

article-image

Plus, an update from the ground in Salt Lake City at Permissionless III

article-image

The US regulator accused the crypto market-making firm of acting as an unregistered dealer

article-image

Customers can pay merchants in USDC or USDP on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, while US-based merchants are paid in dollars