Over-hyped and Underpriced

Traditional Markets

Stock traders are becoming ever pickier lately as yesterday's action clearly demonstrates. The Dow Jones is now suffering from Trump's proposed metal tariffs, which could weigh down on industrial companies. However, tech stocks, which don't rely on any sort of imports are flying. 

Here we can see the Dow Jones Industrial Average (in white) against the tech-heavy Nasdaq Index (in green) over the last two weeks.

Yesterday ended with record highs for Apple, Microsoft, Square, and Nvidia, but unfortunately, none for Facebook.

Also on the minds of American investors, today will be the special elections in Pennsylvania's 18th district. The race there is very close and it is seen as a bellwether that could end up having a heavy influence on the national stage come the mid-term elections in November.

However, whoever wins today will only serve until the end end of the year. As both sides have thrown millions of dollars of campaign money into this election, this may be the most over-hyped election the US has seen in a long while.

Inflation Data Today

No matter how big these small elections are, the main focus for traders today will be the CPI inflation data coming out at 12:30 GMT.

Please note: that the USA has shifted their clocks back an hour over the weekend. So for those of us trading from Europe remember that Wall Street's opening and closing bells are one hour earlier than usual. Europe isn't set to shift the clock until March 25th and Australia goes at the end of the month.

Last month's inflation data came out way above analyst's expectations at 0.5%. Today's numbers are forecast for a more moderate 0.2% gain.

Any surprise to the upside has the potential to spark a panic in the stock markets because it would raise expectations of Fed tightening.

Crypto Regs in Focus

The prices of all the major coins seem to have stabilized after last week's sell-off. On the charts, we can see the famous wedge pattern getting ever narrower on many different cryptos.

Here's Ethereum for example, whose range is now as little as $100 (from $650 to $750).

For now, we watch for updates from the various regulatory bodies around the globe. Even though decentralization is one of the defining points of cryptocurrencies, updates from local regulators, especially in key areas, do have the potential to impact the prices quite significantly.

South Korea for example, seems to have done a complete flip from strongly considering to eliminate ICOs in the country just a few weeks ago, it now seems they are preparing to regulate the market.

Japan, on the other hand, is getting a bit harsher on cryptos. Even though Bitcoin has been legalized a year ago there, the hack on Coincheck has served as a wake-up call for the community and for regulators.

The Japanese FSA is now cracking down on money laundering and may even be preparing to lead the fight for crypto AML rules at the upcoming G-20 summit.

In the United States, on the other hand, things are still in the exploratory phase. Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee will host several insiders from the crypto community to hear their view on the ICO market and how it should be regulated.

What else?

There's plenty more in the news that can impact the markets today. Specifically, watch out for the strained tensions between the UK and Russia. May dropped more than a few jaws yesterday by claiming that Russia was most likely behind the recent assassination of a former Russian Spy.

She's given Putin until midnight to comment on the accusation. Something he may or may not do, given that he has his own elections coming up this Sunday.

Also in England, Phillip Hammond will be delivering the Spring Budget at 11:30 in London.

And in the US, it looks like Russia is off the hook for allegedly meddling in the US elections. Special Agent Robert Muller has decided that there's insufficient evidence that Trump has colluded with Putin to swing the 2016 results. Muller will now focus on other areas of his investigation.

Let's have an awesome day ahead!