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Bitcoin roars baaaack!; Euro steady

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Bitcoin is baaaack!By Arnaud Masset

Bitcoin is gearing up to re-break the USD 10,000 mark as its next target.

After months in the doldrums, cryptocurrencies are roaring ahead: in April, market capitalisation climbed to USD 418 billion, an increase of 70%! Since Monday this week, Bitcoin gained 5% to crack the USD 9,000 threshold. Ethereum rose 90% since 1 April, jumping from USD 358 to 684 this morning, while Bitcoin cash rose 140% to $1,570. Why the surge? No major news was released. However, given the harsh first months of the year, a period of respite was inevitable – and more than welcomed – especially as the regulatory outlook improves.

The Lightning Network is maturing, as its channels increase exponentially to around 7,000 that process transactions without impacting the blockchain systemically. The network is young (first physical purchase was done in January 2018), but it is matching market expectations in transaction fees and rates: Bitcoin will be able to compete with traditional (read non-decentralized) payment systems.

Euro steady onBy Vincent-Frédéric Mivelaz

Following two straight monthly declines, the Eurozone Markit purchasing managers index (PMI) held steady at 55.20 (consensus: 54.80), signalling growth after a shaky start to 2018. There was a slight acceleration in the Services PMI (55) and a decline in Manufacturing PMI (56), thanks to a decline in exports since the beginning of the year. French and German PMIs published Monday pointed in the same direction: services remained largest while manufacturing weakened. Thursday’s European Central Bank Monetary Policy meeting will maintain the current interest rate of -0.40%. Current data point toward economic growth, supported by a cautious normalization policy from Europe’s central bankers. No rate hikes are expected for 2018.

Approaching hourly resistance at 1.2165 (17 January low), EUR/USD is heading toward the 1.2180 range.

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Source: https://en.swissquote.com/
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