Financial Analyst/Content Writer, RADEX MARKETS
Lawrence J. came from a strong technical and engineering background before pivoting into a more financial role later on in his career. Always interested in international finance, Lawrence is experienced in both traditional markets as well as the emerging crypto markets. He now serves as the financial writer for RADEX MARKETS.
CHIA SẺ
Markets are on edge because of a potential escalation of hostilities in Iran. The United States continued to amass military assets around the Middle East and Europe over the past couple of days, appearing to move into position ahead of a future conflict. Negotiations between the two parties have not broken down by any means, in fact, Oman’s foreign minister confirmed that talks between the US and Iran would go ahead in Geneva on Thursday, but investors are understandably adopting cautious stances going into this week. . Oil markets have been particularly vulnerable to the ebb and flow of geopolitical sentiment, with the most recent developments pushing the Brent Crude benchmark to a six-month high of $71 per barrel last week. The problem is not so much the lack of oil being extracted from Iranian oil fields, but the threat of disruption to oil flows in and out of the Persian Gulf.
Predictably, tensions in the region are affecting precious metals, with gold and silver rising confidently in the early hours of this morning. Gold managed to push north of $5,170 per ounce as the week got underway, while silver climbed over $87, maintaining last Friday’s momentum, which saw the white metal surge almost 8%.
On the other hand, cryptocurrencies woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, with Bitcoin testing lows of $64,000 and dragging everything else down alongside it. Bitcoin is currently in a rough situation after the mining algorithm sharply increased difficulty by 15% last week, which, paired with relatively low prices, has impacted miner profitability. In light of the current dynamic, some miners are having to sell part of their war chest in order to cover operating losses. One miner, Bitdeer Technologies, sold all its remaining Bitcoin last week, amounting to around 940 BTC, leaving the company’s treasury completely empty. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, US banks and crypto companies are finally starting to near some form of agreement, which should, in theory, signal a green light for the long-delayed Clarity Act.
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