The highlights of the economic week ahead are the Federal Reserve meeting minutes and a big earnings report from semiconductor giant Nvidia.

There are also reports on global manufacturing and services indexes and consumer inflation expectations which could influence markets a little.

Economic Calendar May 20-24

Last week saw the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) cross the 40,000 mark for the first time. The stock rally was boosted by favorable figures in the CPI report, which ignited speculation that the US economy is cooling and that the central bank may cut rates in the next few months.

The minutes of the Federal Reserve FOMC May meeting will be revealed on Wednesday this week. These may offer more insight into monetary policy going forward and a projected rate-cut timeline.

On Thursday, May’s Global Manufacturing PMI preliminary report will be released, capturing business conditions in the manufacturing sector.

May 23 also sees a similar PMI report for the services sector. This is a crucial leading indicator since the services sector is responsible for over 70% of the total US GDP and a signal for changing economic conditions.

Friday, we will see May’s Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures inflation expectations. These reports portray the results of a monthly survey of consumer confidence levels in the country.

Key Events This Week:

1. Nvidia reports Q1 2024 earnings – Wednesday

2. Existing Home Sales data – Wednesday

3. Fed Meeting Minutes – Wednesday

4. New Home Sales data – Thursday

5. Durable Goods Orders data – Friday

6. Total of 18 Fed speaker events this week

All eyes are…

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) May 19, 2024

Wednesday also has a highly-anticipated quarterly revenue report from semiconductor giant Nvidia which could keep tech stocks and crypto on a roll.

“Bulls want Nvidia to extend the run into record highs, and bears want Nvidia to mark the top,” commented the Kobeissi Letter on May 19.

Markets in Asia ticked up on Monday, May 20, tracking Wall Street gains. Investors in the region are awaiting their own sets of economic data this week with eyes on Japan for inflation data and South Korea for a rates decision.

Crypto Market Impact

With no major economic events this week, it is unlikely that crypto markets will be heavily impacted, and volatility is likely to remain low.

Crypto markets were buoyed last week, with total capitalization topping $2.5 trillion and holding gains over the weekend. They have dipped a little over the past 24 hours, however, with a 1.2% decline.

Bitcoin fell to an intraday low of $66,000 but found support there and returned to $67,000 at the time of writing during Monday morning’s Asian trading session.

Ethereum has dropped 1.3% on the day in a fall back to $3,078 after reaching a weekend high of $3,142. The altcoins were predominantly in the red this Monday morning.

Bitcoin’s price dropped below $67,000 on a few occasions in the past 24 hours but has reacted well to each correction and now sits at that line once again.

The altcoins are slightly in the red on a daily scale, with TON, ADA, and SHIB retracing by around 3%.

BTC Goes Down and Up

It was less than a week ago – last Tuesday – when the primary cryptocurrency’s price had declined to just over $61,000 amid some Coinbase issues. However, the asset bounced off almost immediately and started a notable rally on Wednesday after the US CPI numbers were announced.

In a matter of hours, BTC jumped by several grand and exceeded $66,000. It corrected on Thursday to just under $65,000 but reversed its trajectory once again by the end of the week.

This culminated in a couple of price pumps above $67,500, the latest of which came on Sunday. However, the bears intercepted the move and pushed BTC down to just under $66,000. A bit more volatility followed with another brief decline, but bitcoin currently stands close to $67,000 once again, being down less than 0.5% in a day.

This means the cryptocurrency’s market cap remains around $1.320 trillion, and its dominance over the alts is close to 52%.

Alts See Red

Most altcoins have mimicked BTC’s performance in the past 24 hours, posting minor losses. ETH is close to breaking below $3,100 after a 0.4% daily decline as anticipation for the SEC’s decision on Ethereum ETFs grows. Binance Coin has decreased by a similar percentage to $576.

More losses from the larger-cap alts come from XRP, DOGE, AVA, DOT, TRX, and BCH, while TON, SHIB, and ADA are down by 2.5-3%.

In contrast, Solana’s native token has jumped by 2.5% and sits close to $180. WIF, PEPE, NEAR, and GRT are also slightly in the green.

The total crypto market cap has shed some value since yesterday and is just under $2.550 trillion on CG now.

TL;DR

• Bitcoin (BTC) experienced notable volatility early in the month but has recently stabilized around $67K.
• Ethereum (ETH) saw a substantial 5.6% increase over the past week, currently trading around $3,100, with predictions of further significant gains in the coming months.
• Shiba Inu’s Shibarium witnessed a rise in daily transactions and transaction volume, coinciding with recent network upgrades enhancing functionality and wallet compatibility.

How’s BTC Doing?

The price of the primary cryptocurrency did not start the month on the right foot, briefly plunging below $58,000. Over the next few weeks, it experienced enhanced volatility, rising above $65K and dropping to $60K. However, its price condition looks much more stable as of the moment, consolidating around the $67K mark for the past three days.

The latest rally started on May 15, shortly after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. The total CPI clocked in at 3.4%, meeting previous expectations.

The Federal Reserve aims to decrease annual inflation to 2%. To achieve that goal, it has enforced numerous policies, including rate hikes. The central bank previously hinted at a pivot, but it remains unknown if that will happen before mid-summer. 

The next Federal Open Market Committee Meeting is set for June 12, and it will be interesting to follow what the Fed announces. 

ETH Price Outlook

The second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization – Ethereum (ETH) – also witnessed a substantial uptick in the last week. It currently trades at around $3,100 (per CoinGecko’s data), a 5.6% increase on a 7-day scale. 

Some industry participants recently predicted that the asset’s price would pump much more significantly in the following months.

The X user World of Charts argued that ETH had broken the falling wedge pattern consolidation in the 12-hour timeframe. The falling wedge pattern is largely accepted as a bullish pattern characterized by a wide top and subsequent contraction as the price moves lower, as can be seen on the following chart.

$Eth

Finally Breaks Falling Wedge Consolidation In H12 Timeframe Trend Is Already Up And Expecting Continuation Towards 4500$ In Coming Weeks#Crypto #Eth #Ethereum pic.twitter.com/e6NWIqwGgc

— World Of Charts (@WorldOfCharts1) May 16, 2024

CryptoYoddha was even more bullish, expecting a price explosion towards the $10,000 milestone before the end of 2024.

SHIB Advancements

The popular meme coin is well in the green on a weekly basis, too, with its uptrend coinciding with some rising metrics related to its ecosystem.

Last week, SHIB aggregated daily volume, where each transaction exceeds $100,000, reached $223 million (a whopping 2,300% increase compared to the figure observed the day before). 

The project’s layer-2 blockchain solution – Shibarium – also experienced a revival. As CryptoPotato reported on May 16, daily transactions on the network surged to almost 18,000, a 193% rise compared to the data on May 15.

Officially launched last summer, Shibarium is designed to enhance the functionality and scalability of the Shiba Inu ecosystem. It also aims to lower transaction fees and improve speed. 

Not long ago, the network underwent two important upgrades to enhance user experience and enable compatibility with popular wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, and Trust Wallet. Those curious to learn more about Shibarium, feel free to take a look at our dedicated video below: