Is BoE Prepared to Step Up Inflation Fight in Light of Another Devastating Inflation Report?

Policymakers at the Bank of England will be scratching their heads this morning wondering what they have to do to get inflation down, with the latest CPI report another setback in the central bank's ambition of delivering price stability and a soft landing.

Bitcoin's Breakthrough

Bitcoin briefly topped $29K at the start of trading on Wednesday. In terms of technical analysis, this is an important bullish signal as the price closed above its 50-day moving average and above previous local highs in a sharp move on Tuesday. This move confirms the breakdown of the downtrend in place for the past two months. The next target for the bulls is the area between the April and May highs at $29.4-$30.4K.

Canada: Retail Sales Rebound in April, Expect to Remain Strong in May

Retail sales rose 1.1% month-on-month (m/m) in April, much stronger than the Statistics Canada's advanced estimate of 0.2% and consensus forecast of 0.4%. March's print was revised down to -1.5% m/m from an originally reported loss of 1.4%.

Sunset Market Commentary

UK May Inflation data and Fed Powell’s semi-annual Congressional testimony before the House Financial Services Committee were key today. Powell’s testimony still takes place after finishing this report, but the text of his statement is already published (cf infra). UK May inflation data awakened markets.

Swiss Franc Drifting Ahead of SNB Rate Decision

The Swiss National Bank will announce its rate decision on Thursday, and the meeting is live, as the markets have priced a 0.50% hike at 60% and a 0.25% at 40%. The current benchmark rate is 1.50%.

Big Central Bank Day

BoE: We expect the Bank of England (BoE) to hike the Bank Rate by 25bp .While we now expect a peak in the Bank Rate of 5.00%, we see current market pricing of a peak in policy rates of 6.00% as too aggressive. EUR/GBP is set to move higher on the statement as we expect the BoE communication to fail to live up to market expectations.

BoE Decides after Another Bad Inflation Report

The BoE is the first major central bank that started hiking the rates to fight inflation. It proved to be the least efficient bank doing this job; British inflation is the worst among developed economies at nearly 9%. Consequently, the BoE will certainly be the last to finish hiking. The bank is expected to hike six more times, by 25bp, to reach a peak rate above the 6% by the end of this year, or the beginning of the next.

Hawkish Powell Weighs on Stocks, 50 Basis Points on the Table for BoE

The Fed Chair appeared before the House Financial Services Committee and very much stuck to last week's script, which should come as a surprise to no one. Inflation is not under control and the vast majority at the Fed believe more rate hikes will be warranted was the message, although we got that from the dot plot.

Why Price of Bitcoin Rose to USD 30k

The BTC/USD chart shows that the rise in the price of bitcoin this week met resistance (1) from the upper line of the descending channel, shown in red. But after yesterday's violent rally, the price reached a resistance block, which is formed by:

Crypto Needs a Breather

Bitcoin has surged more than 15% in two days, revisiting the area of April highs just above 30K. However, this is where the recovery has paused. Bitcoin needs to consolidate a bit before it can resume its ascent. Moreover, there are doubts that the cryptocurrency rally will continue soon, as the stock indices create a challenging environment for risk-sensitive assets across the board.