MARKETS week ahead: October 21 – 27Last week in the news
The US Retail Sales figures for September, as well as better than expected posted quarterly results of US companies were the major catalyst for the US equity markets during the previous week. The S&P 500 reached the newest all time highest level, ending the week at the level of 5.864. Although the US Dollar was gaining in strength, gold has also reached the fresh new highest level at $ 2.721, supported by the continuing tensions in the Middle East. The US 10Y Treasury yields were testing the 4,0% level. This week the crypto market was also in the spotlight of investors, where BTC was pushed up to the level of $68K.
The ECB cut interest rates by another 25 bps at their meeting held during the previous week. This was widely expected by market participants. Although ECB President Lagarde is still holding to the narrative that the ECB will be data dependent in the coming period, still what is evident is that the inflation in the Euro Zone is nearing targeted 2,0%. However, at this moment, inflation is a minor problem, considering that the EU economy is significantly slowing down. President Lagarde did not put too much emphasis on this issue, however, the markets continue to be of the opinion that the ECB would have to cut further in the coming months.
As September Retail Sales in the US were in line with the market expectation, and showed no threat to the inflation and FEDs forthcoming rate cuts, the market turned the view toward the increasing U.S. deficit. Economists are stressing that the US administration increased further deficit by 8% during this year, which recorded a $1,8 trillion. However, the economists are stressing a much higher problem for the US administration, which is the level of interest paid on that debt. As per reports, the interest payments reached $1,16 trillion, the highest amount ever in US history.
In line with the latest surge in BTC price, the inflows into BTC-linked ETFs also increased. As per news reports, around $2,1 billion flowed to these funds. BlackRocks chief investment strategist noted that 75% of all new investors in their BTC ETF IBIT have never before owned not a single iShare.
China posted its Q3 growth rate at 4,6% which was higher than expected, however, economists are noting that there are still significant challenges. The highest pressure on further China's growth is coming from the property market. New housing starts for the first three quarters were down by -12%y/y. However, hi-tech manufacturing continues to surge 10,1% y/y, as well as the auto industry, which is currently standing at 4,6%y.y. At the same time strategists from Wells Fargo are stressing that the value of Chinese equities are moving at overvalued territory. The MSCI China surged by 40% this year.
Crypto market cap
After a few challenging weeks, where crypto coins were traded in a mixed mode, a final breakthrough occurred during the previous week. A positive market sentiment was evident not only on the US equity market, but this time, investors sentiment was turned also toward the crypto market. Reasons are not quite evident at this moment. On one side are analysts who are noting increased odds of the US Presidential candidate and crypto-supporter (at least in the presidential campaign), Donald Trump to win the elections, while on the other side are analysts who are putting emphasis on increased government spending, which is more a realistic scenario. Whatever the reason, the crypto market capitalization increased by 6% on the weekly basis, adding total $139B to its market cap. Daily trading volumes remained relatively stable on a weekly level, moving around $112B on a daily basis. Total crypto market capitalization increase from the end of the previous year currently stands at $653B which represents a 40% surge from the beginning of this year.
Despite the significant increase in the market capitalization, still, there were coins which were traded in a negative territory during the week. The significant weekly gainer was BTC, which added $101.4B to its market cap, increasing it by more than 8% w/w. ETH followed the path, with a relatively smaller gain of $ 20B or 6.9%. BNB had another solid week, with a surge in market cap of almost $ 3B, increasing it by 3.5%. Market-favorite Solana was also in the winning club, with a surge in cap of $4.5B or 6.6%. Significant gainers in a relative terms, were Litecoin, with a surge in value of 13.7%, DOGE was traded higher by more than 26%, Bitcoin Cash was higher by almost 10%. There were a few coins which closed the week at lower grounds from the week before, like Maker, which dropped in value by 11% w/w, Uniswap was down by almost 11%, while OMG Network lost 5.3% in value.
When it comes to coins in circulation, Tether managed to increase the number of coins on the market by 0.3%, also increasing its total market cap by this amount. IOTA added 0.6% more coins to the market on a weekly basis, while the amount of Polkadot`s coins was higher by 0.2%. On the other hand, Maker decreased the number of coins by 0.6%.
Crypto futures market
The crypto futures market reacted in the same manner as the crypto spot market during the previous week. BTC both short and long term futures were traded higher by around 8.5% for all maturities. BTC futures maturing in December this year closed the week at the level of $69.900, while those maturing a year later were last traded at $76.035. At the same time, futures maturing in March 2026 closed the week at $78.010. This represents a significant move to the higher grounds, where the market, for the first time, is expecting BTC to reach the $78K level.
ETH futures surged by around 7.7% for all maturities. Futures maturing in December this year were last traded at $2.723, and those maturing in December 2025 closed the week at $2.904. It is interesting that ETH did not manage to cross the $3K level till the end of next year, and also not for maturities in March 2026, which were last traded at $2.957.
