Bitcoin surged 9.2% to $27,359 at 2207 GMT on Friday, adding $2,309 to its previous close. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is up 65.9% from the year’s low of $16,496 on Jan. 1. Ether , the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, rose 5.5% to $1,768.5 on Friday, adding $91.6 to its previous close. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

USD: FX hit the pause button The turmoil in financial markets continues to follow two parallel tracks: news on distressed banks and central bank action. As we approach the end of the week, it’s quite clear that the two epicentres of financial stability tumult – Credit Suisse in Europe and regional banks in the US – remain unresolved. In both cases, the respective central banks have stepped in with significant support: the SNB with a $54bn loan to the troubled bank and the Fed with its two borrowing facilities which, ...

The dollar slipped on Friday after top U.S. power brokers including the government and banks threw a lifeline to a struggling regional lender to ease stress on the financial system, which returned some confidence to investors. The rescue of First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) in the U.S. on Thursday boosted risk appetite globally on Friday as concerns about global banks eased, making way for surges in the Australian and New Zealand dollars. This week has revived memories of the 2008 financial crisis, in which dozens of institutions failed or were bailed ...

The dollar fell and the euro rose on Thursday after the European Central Bank raised interest rates as planned despite market chaos in recent days, in a sign the Federal Reserve also will raise rates next week as both stay on track to tame inflation. The dollar and euro stuck to a narrow range before the ECB announced a half-percentage point rate hike as promised to curb inflation, with markets pricing more than an 80% likelihood that the Fed will raise rates by a quarter point on March 22. Treasury ...

USD: Policy makers scramble to restore confidence Despite much discussion of the unique problems facing the US regional banking system after SVB’s failure, pressure in the banking sector did cross the Atlantic yesterday and asked questions of the European banking system. All eyes are on the health of Credit Suisse (CS) – one of the world’s 30 Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs). Late yesterday CS did receive the support it was looking for from Swiss authorities and overnight announced it had tapped a CHF50bn liquidity line from the Swiss National ...

The euro and Swiss franc regained some lost ground on Thursday, as markets reacted positively to the Swiss central bank’s support for Credit Suisse, ahead of a difficult meeting for ECB rate setters. The euro was up 0.4% at $1.06225 having lost 1.4% a day earlier, its biggest percentage fall in six months, as the focus of fears about the banking sector spread across the Atlantic from the collapsed U.S.-based Silicon Valley Bank to the much larger Credit Suisse. Some calm was restored to markets after the Swiss lender said ...

The British pound fell against the dollar but surged against a tumbling euro on Wednesday as markets fretted about the state of the European banking system as the fallout from the collapse of U.S. tech lender Silicon Valley Bank gathered pace. Shares in Swiss lender Credit Suisse plummeted more than 30% at one stage after its largest investor said it could not provide more financial assistance to the bank. The slide led the wider European banking index (.SX7P) lower, triggering demand for the safe-haven dollar and away from high-beta currencies ...

Markets remain nervous Earlier today we had described a ‘nervous calm’ returning to financial markets. That has not lasted long at all as attention has switched to Europe and the pressure on Credit Suisse’s (CS) share price after The Saudi National Bank, one of CS’s top investors, said it was not open to a further capital injection into CS. Heavy losses in CS have un-nerved European bank stocks in general at a time when the failure of SVB, formerly the United States’ 16th largest bank, is still being assessed. Heavy ...

The collapse of two big U.S. regional banks has forced the U.S. bond markets into a near 180-degree turn from pricing in a more aggressive Federal Reserve and is eroding expectations the greenback could resume a new rally to fresh 20-year highs. Emergency measures by the Fed and the U.S. government on Sunday to guarantee bank deposits have failed to reassure markets after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY) collapsed. Since Thursday, the tumble in short-term U.S. Treasury yields, which were at 15-year highs, was the steepest since October ...

USD: Dollar takes a trip across its ‘smile curve’ Financial market conditions have settled a little. Without any further public policy pronouncements yesterday, US regional banks reclaimed some of Monday’s heavy losses, US bond yields reversed some of their enormous drop, and measures of money market stress such as the 3m FRA-OIS spread or the 3m EUR cross-currency basis swap partially eased back from stressed levels. However, it seems far too early to sound the ‘all-clear’ on this topic. The genuine fear is that depositors in these less scrutinised and ...

Sterling and euro steadied ahead of British government’s budget announcement later on Wednesday and the European Central Bank’s looming interest rate hike on Thursday. The dollar was also stabilising as fear of a banking crisis ebbed and investors dialled back bets on U.S. rate cuts. Sterling edged 0.11% lower at $1.2146 against the dollar and flattened at 88.24 against the euro with finance minister Jeremy Hunt due to make a budget speech to parliament at around 1230 GMT. Hunt is expected to announce how he will try to prop up ...

The dollar edged higher on Tuesday as traders set aside a fairly strong reading of consumer price data and tried to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next week after the collapse of two banks sparked widespread market unease. The dollar index , a measure of the dollar against six other currencies, rose 0.096% as Treasury yields jumped a day after the two-year note, which moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell the most in a single day since 1987. The euro eased 0.11% to $1.0717, ...

USD: Risks of another leg lower The fallout of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank is still unfolding. Let’s start by taking stock of has happened since markets reopened after the weekend: Depositors at SVB and Signature could access their funds on Monday thanks to intervention by US regulators, which aimed at preventing contagion The Fed’s Bank Term Funding Programme came into action, offering advantageous conditions for banks that can get loans with collaterals valued at par – therefore avoiding to incurring in losses when selling securities ...

Market is close to pricing the Fed tightening cycle as over In a complete U-turn from its reaction to hawkish Powell testimony last week, markets today struggle to price one further 25bp hike from the Fed. This is a far cry from the +75-100bp of extra tightening seen last week. The re-pricing of the Fed is understandable as US authorities struggle to put a floor under the evolving banking crisis. Indeed, the KBW regional banking index is off another 10% today – not what authorities wanted to see after promising ...

The dollar rose in somewhat calmer trading on Tuesday, after tumbling on Monday following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), as investors waited for the release of U.S. consumer inflation data later in the day. Tuesday’s consumer price index (CPI) figures have the potential to drive further volatility in global markets, coming a day after fears of a potential banking crisis caused traders to rapidly scale down their expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes. The euro was last 0.36% lower at $1.069 as the greenback bounced. It hit a ...