Bitcoin Skids Toward $47K, Dollar Slides
Top cryptocurrencies by market value, led by Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD), slid during New York trading on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices halted a four-day rally.
The oldest cryptocurrency was recently trading 7.4% lower at $47,668, whereas Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was down 7% at $3,800.
The recent slide has trimmed Bitcoin’s year-to-date gains to 63.5%, compared with 27.3% for the S&P 500 Index.
Among other large-cap cryptos, Solana (SOL-USD) fell 10.9% to $179.72 over the past 24 hours, XRP (XRP-USD) retreated 8.7% to $0.86, and Cardano (ADA-USD) lost 9.5% to $1.41.
The US dollar was slightly lower against its major trading partners early Tuesday ahead of another light data and trading day during this holiday period.
The highlights of Tuesday’s data schedule are home price measures from FHFA and Case-Shiller. Weekly Redbook retail sales data, this time for the week leading up to Christmas, will also be closely watched.
Manufacturing and services readings from the Richmond Federal Reserve and services data from the Dallas Federal Reserve will be released later in the US morning.
A quick summary of foreign exchange action heading into Tuesday shows that USD-CAD rose to 1.2798 from 1.2788 at the Monday US close but fell from 1.2832 a day earlier.
Canada remains on holiday on Tuesday, so trading will remain light and will be contingent on the US data released earlier in the day.
USD-JPY held in a tight range overnight, slipping to 114.8758 from 114.8871 at the Monday US close and up modestly from 114.6581 a day ago.
Japan reported both a record jump in factory output in November, due in large part to car production and an uptick in the unemployment rate due to people leaving their jobs for better ones. The Bank of Japan will remain behind the Fed in adjusting monetary policy, a positive for the US dollar.
GBP-USD rose to 1.3453 from 1.3443 at Monday US close and 1.3398 a day earlier. As with Canada, the UK remains closed for Boxing Day on Tuesday. C
OVID cases remain elevated in the UK and will likely see another boost over the next few weeks due to holiday gatherings.
EUR-USD ticked up slightly to 1.1333 from 1.1327 at the Monday US close and from 1.1306 a day earlier. The omicron variant is expected to slow the pace of recovery in the Eurozone.
The European Central Bank said last week that it expects to hold interest rates steady until 2023 due to the spread of COVID, particularly the omicron variant. # Bitcoin Skids Toward $47K, Dollar Slides
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