Tech under pressure but Gold and Bitcoin move higher

Chris Beauchamp IG

It has been another good day for gold and bitcoin, while tech stocks continue to struggle, says Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at online trading and investing platform IG.

FTSE 100 climbs as tech struggles

“It has been a better start to the week in London than it has for tech names across the globe. The FTSE has put the weakness of early August firmly behind it, helped along by strength in gold, which has offset the weakness in BP and heavyweight pharmaceutical stocks. It is a very different story for indices like the Nasdaq 100, where the jitters seen in Asia around Samsung’s shareholder returns plan and Alibaba’s hefty share placement have carried over into the US session. Tech had been at risk of weakness thanks to Nvidia’s earnings and the usual pre-game nervousness, but the news from other tech giants has certainly meant that an already weak tape has been pushed further into the red.”

Dollar alternatives soar

“The rallies in gold and bitcoin have continued on the first day of the new week as the shockwaves of Bessent’s Treasury market intervention continues to make themselves felt. The word ‘debasement’ has been absent from market discussions for some time, but the rather odd moves in Washington seem to raise the spectre of the dollar being undermined once more. Its position as the dominant currency remains secure, but both bitcoin and gold bulls will be thanking the US Treasury for its interesting turn in fiscal policy.”

Author

Chris Beauchamp

Chris Beauchamp has been with IG for four years, and in that time has become a regular commentator and analyst for the financial press and TV, with appearances on all the major financial channels as well as the BBC and Sky News.

GBP/USD keeps the vacillating tone near 1.3650

GBP/USD struggles to extend its ongoimg recovery on Monday, this time flirting with the 1.3650 zone. Indeed, Cable trades without clear direction, although it manages well to maintain its business in the upper end of the recent range, challenging multi-week tops despite the decent recovery in the Greenback.

EUR/USD drifts lower to the 1.1670 zone

EUR/USD navigates a tight range at the beginning of the week, hovering around the 1.1670 region amid humble losses. The pair’s decline follows a decent advance in the US Dollar while investors continue to closely follow developments from the US money market.

Gold pushes harder; focus is now on $4,700

Gold keeps its bullish pace well and sound and approaches the $4,700 mark per troy ounce for the first time since early May. The precious metal’s move higher comes despite slight gains in the US Dollar and a modest pullback in US Treasury yields across the curve.

Here's what I learned trading meme coins

I’ve been trading cryptocurrencies for the past seven years, with meme coins becoming one of the most exciting and implacable parts of my experience. I love them because they represent internet culture and community sentiment, and, let’s be honest, extreme speculation. Newly launched meme coins were especially tempting: get in early enough, I thought, and a small bet could turn into a huge return.

Bessent’s presser in focus

Preview: Busy week ahead, with Bessent kicking this off today, with things wrapping up with Warsh at Jackson Hole. For a month that should have been a temporary period of ‘quiet’, we had anything but last week, with the bond market and tariffs front and centre.

$20 billion offered, $2 billion taken: Why Treasury doubled its buyback cap

The US Treasury moved off its own calendar on Wednesday, and that is the part worth sitting with. At 12:32 GMT, the department said it would at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors, lifting the maximum from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 and running to November 4.