Stocks, Cryptos Sank On Bloody Monday

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Global stocks witnessed a bloodbath on Monday as inflation and growth fears intensified, pushing investors to dump equities, commodities, bonds and cryptos. The safe-haven dollar, meanwhile, extends the ascent amid rising expectations for more aggressive tightening by the Fed amid stubbornly high inflation.

Earlier in the day, the USD index came across a barrier just a few pips below the 105.00 figure that capped the rally last month. The buck has settled around 104.70 since then, holding onto solid intraday gains in a risk-off environment. The USD bulls seem to be awaiting a catalyst that would push the prices through the mentioned threshold. On Tuesday, a two-day FOMC policy meeting begins, suggesting traders could prefer a more cautious approach ahead of the event. A hawkish hike could add to the dollar’s bullishness this week, but the tone should be aggressive enough to impress the bulls.  

Elsewhere, cryptos plunged along with traditional stock markets, with bitcoin challenging fresh late-2020 lows as the New York session begins. The BTCUSD pair failed to hold above the $24,000 mark, now targeting the $23,000 level, a break below which would pave the way towards $20,000. The sell-off intensified after the news that crypto lending service Celsius announced it would pause withdrawals, citing extreme market conditions. The company didn’t provide a timeline for resuming withdrawals.

Despite its safe-haven status, gold suffers losses along with high-yielding assets, pressured by USD bulls. The XAUUSD pair reversed Friday’s gains in the deepest one-day sell-off since early March when global markets crashed in reaction to Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. The bullion dipped from $1,878 down to $1,835, trading back below the key moving averages. Should the yellow metal fail to hold above $1,825, the $1,800 zone will come back into the market focus.