The variety of merchants anticipating a price lower on the March Federal Open Market Committee assembly rose following fears of a hawkish Fed nominee.
The number of traders expecting an interest rate cut at the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting has risen to 23%, following investor fears of a hawkish stance from Kevin Warsh, US President Donald Trump’s Federal Reserve chair nominee.
Investors and traders forecasting a rate cut surged by nearly 5% from Friday, when only 18.4% signaled they were expecting an interest rate cut, according to data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group.
Those anticipating a rate cut in March forecast a 25 basis point (BPS) cut, with no investors expecting a rate cut of 50 BPS or more.
President Trump nominated Warsh in January as a replacement for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term is over in May.
Interest rate policy can influence crypto asset prices, with easing liquidity conditions seen as a positive price catalyst, and tightening liquidity conditions through higher rates impacting asset prices negatively, as access to financing dries up.
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Markets and investors spooked by Warsh’s nomination
“The nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed Chair has shaken markets to the core,” crypto market analyst Nic Puckrin said in a message shared with Cointelegraph.
Puckrin attributed the sharp decline in valuable metals towards the top of January and early days of February to investor perceptions of Warsh, who’s seen as extra hawkish, which means he’s in favor of conserving rates of interest increased for longer. He stated:
“Markets are digesting Warsh’s views on future Fed coverage, most notably the central financial institution’s steadiness sheet, which he says is ‘trillions bigger than it must be’. If he does undertake insurance policies to shrink the steadiness sheet, markets should reckon with a lower-liquidity surroundings.”
Thomas Perfumo, a worldwide economist at cryptocurrency alternate Kraken, informed Cointelegraph that Warsh’s nomination sends a ‘combined’ macroeconomic sign to buyers.
The nomination of Warsh could sign that liquidity and credit score will stabilize within the US, somewhat than increase, as crypto buyers had anticipated, Perfumo stated.
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