Fed specific about timing, good news for the USD

Comments of the US Federal Reserve after its September meeting were quite soft. The range for the regulator’s key rate was left unchanged, from 1.0% to 1.25%, as widely expected, and the forecasts of the Fed members hint at another possible rate increase until the end of 2017 and three more in 2018. By the way, before the meeting the CME futures indicated 50% expectations of the rate increase in December 2017 and after the meeting this number reached 58%.

The USD was pretty positive in its response to the news that the Federal Reserve would begin selling some of the assets, which had accumulated on its balance sheet over the QE program period. At the moment, it’s about $4.7T and the procedure of selling is going to start in two weeks. For once, the Fed was very specific about the time and that’s good for the Dollar.

On Thursday morning, the EUR/USD pair got stabilized close to 1.1890 after a rather significant decline the previous evening. Today the market will keep analyzing the Fed’s comments and decisions, that’s why the USD may continue strengthening its positions, although it is not expected to rally like yesterday.

EUR/USD holds firm near 1.1850 amid USD weakness

EUR/USD remains strongly bid around 1.1850 in European trading on Monday. The USD/JPY slide-led broad US Dollar weakness helps the pair build on Friday's recovery ahead of the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence data for February.

GBP/USD hovers near 1.3600 as UK government crisis weighs on Pound Sterling

GBP/USD moves sideways after registering modest gains in the previous session, trading around 1.3610 during the European hours on Monday. The pair could come under pressure as the Pound Sterling may weaken amid a fresh government crisis in the United Kingdom.

Gold remains supported by China's buying and USD weakness as traders eye US data

Gold struggles to capitalize on its intraday move up and remains below the $5,100 mark heading into the European session amid mixed cues. Data released over the weekend showed that the People's Bank of China extended its buying spree for a 15th month in January. Moreover, dovish US Fed expectations and concerns about the central bank's independence drag the US Dollar lower for the second straight day, providing an additional boost to the non-yielding yellow metal.

Cardano steadies as whale selling caps recovery

Cardano (ADA) steadies at $0.27 at the time of writing on Monday after slipping more than 5% in the previous week. On-chain data indicate a bearish trend, with certain whales offloading ADA. However, the technical outlook suggests bearish momentum is weakening, raising the possibility of a short-term relief rebound if buying interest picks up.

Japanese PM Takaichi nabs unprecedented victory – US data eyed this week

I do not think I would be exaggerating to say that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s snap general election gamble paid off over the weekend – and then some. This secured the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) an unprecedented mandate just three months into her tenure.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple consolidate after massive sell-off

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple prices consolidated on Monday after correcting by nearly 9%, 8%, and 10% in the previous week, respectively. BTC is hovering around $70,000, while ETH and XRP are facing rejection at key levels. Traders should be cautious: despite recent stabilization, upside recovery for these top three cryptocurrencies is capped as the broader trend remains bearish.