New York Fed’s Williams said cuts are possible if inflation cools.
Bitcoin jumped ~6.7% toward $70K amid volatility. Watch for Fed action, CPI data and crypto regulations.
☆Markets At A Glance
• Global equities fell as a deeper Middle East conflict drove oil near 7% higher.
U.S. stocks slid on Mar 3: Dow -0.8%, S&P 500 -0.9%, Nasdaq -1%, led by tech losses after strong Nvidia results raised valuation concerns.
Energy shares rose on the oil spike, but broad market sentiment turned cautious.
• In crypto, Bitcoin surged around 6.7% to ~$70,100 on Mar 2 as volatility spiked.
Ether and Solana each climbed over 8%.
The rally reflects risk off positioning amid geopolitical fears.
☆Key Developments
• Fed Outlook:
NY Fed’s John Williams said inflation should hit 2% next year and further reductions in the federal funds rate will eventually be warranted if prices ease.
This underscores expectations that the Fed will hold rates until a clear disinflation trend appears.
• Inflation & Labor:
U.S. CPI rose 0.2% in January (2.4% YoY).
January jobs grew by 130K, unemployment 4.3%, suggesting a firm labor market that may delay Fed cuts.
Euro zone inflation slowed to 1.7% in Feb, below the ECB’s 2% target.
• Commodities:
Brent crude closed about 6.7% higher at $77.74/barrel after Iranian attacks shut Gulf output.
Gasoline and LNG prices also jumped stoking inflation fears.
☆Market Movers
• Gainers:
• LSEG (LON) +9.0% on a $4.1B buyback
• J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) +8.8% on strong Q3 results
• Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ: CELH) +6.9% on upbeat revenue
• Bitcoin +6.7% (volatility spike);
• Ethereum +8% (crypto rally).
• Losers:
• C3.ai (NASDAQ: AI) -18.5% after weak sales guidance
• Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) -5.5% on valuation concerns
• Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) -4.8% on soft forecast
• Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) -2.1% amid tech selloff
• Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) -1.3% on Nasdaq pullback.
☆Chart Snapshot
• Bitcoin (BTC/USD, daily):
Price broke above the $68K resistance, reflecting strong bullish momentum.
The RSI (Relative Strength Index) is near 80, indicating overbought conditions (RSI measures recent gains vs losses on a 0–100 scale).
A sustained close above resistance could target $75K, but a pullback to support (~$65K) is possible as RSI cools.
☆Education Note
Inflation (CPI) The Consumer Price Index measures how prices of a broad basket of goods and services change over time.
A 2% CPI rise means prices rose 2% year-on-year central banks use CPI to gauge inflation relative to targets.
🔴Not financial advice for educational purposes only.
