N Rotteveel/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell to below $29K in Monday morning trading, pulling down cryptocurrency-exposed stocks, as investors turned their attention to the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday, in which the Federal Open Market Committee is expected to lift rates for a 10th straight time.
The most well-known digital token (BTC-USD) slid 3.3% to $28.45K at 10:43 a.m. ET, once again rejecting the key $30K technical level, despite renewed concerns about the traditional regional banking sector. Other major token also took a hit, namely ethereum (ETH-USD), slumping 3.6% to $1.84K, and solana (SOL-USD), -5.5%.
The bearish price action sent crypto-tied stocks lower, including Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), -5.9%, Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA), -5.5%, CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), -5.5%, Core Scientific (OTCPK:CORZQ), -5.2%, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), -4.1%, and Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN), -1.8%.
The moves come as investors brace for Wednesday’s FOMC gathering. With core inflation showing signs of stickiness and the labor market still going strong, fed funds futures priced in a 91.2% chance that monetary policymakers will lift the benchmark rate by another 25 basis points, according to the CME FedWatch tool, taking the target range to 5.0%-5.25%.
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, contended that this could be the last rate increase, “or the last for awhile, if the Fed chooses to sit back and evaluate inflation, the state of the economy, and the cumulative impact of all the rate hikes.”
“The continued strength of the labor market and slower-than-hoped moderation in inflation pressures underscore the case for the Fed raising interest rates again on May 3,” he said. “The Fed has sown a credibility issue on inflation and the way to dispel that is to see the job of restoring price stability through.”
