Market Bizzz

That steep rate hike path, designed to slow the economy, has sparked widespread concern about a recession and a weakening of labor markets, which Powell on Wednesday said were unsustainably hot.

Gold is often viewed as a hedge against inflation and a safe store of value during economic crises, like a recession. However, the Fed hiking interest rates to fight inflation raises the opportunity cost of holding bullion, which yields no interest.

Wednesday is also the record date for dividends by Britannia Industries, Bank of Maharashtra, Agro Tech Foods, Bliss GVS Pharma, Bharat Seats and Morarka Finance.

The multiplex operators, PVR and Inox Leisure, said that they have received clearances for their merger from bourses NSE and BSE. Both companies announced to receive a letter with ‘no adverse observations’ from the bourses.

The yen was last drifting at 136.4 per dollar, having hit 136.71 in early trade, the lowest since October 1998. Analysts see no immediate end to a sell-off that has seen the yen weaken 18% so far this year from 115.08 at the end of 2021.

Barring the USD Coin, all crypto tokens were trading with gains on Tuesday. Solana zoomed 9 per cent, whereas Avalanche and Polkadot gained 8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. Ethereum, Bitcoin, BNB and Cardano gained up to 5 per cent.

Crypto-evangelizing companies ran commercials during the Super Bowl and spent heavily to sponsor sports arenas and baseball teams. The industry’s combined assets back then were estimated to be worth more than $3 trillion; today, they are worth less than a third of that

Elsewhere the Japanese yen remained under pressure at 135.1 yen per dollar, not far off a 24-year low of 135.58 yen hit early last week, after the Bank of Japan on Friday dashed any mild expectations of a change in policy and renewed its commitment to ultra-easy monetary settings.