BOJ cuts economic assessment for all of Japan's nine regions

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

In its latest quarterly report released on Thursday, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) slashed the economic assessment for all of Japan’s nine regions.

The regions are either worsening or in a severe state due to the coronavirus pandemic, the BOJ report mentioned.

USD/JPY steady around 107.25

USD/JPY holds steady around 107.25 heading into the European open, as the bulls defend the 107.20 support amid broad US dollar weakness. The yen markets are unperturbed by the downgrade to Japan’s economic assessment.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

EUR/USD slumps below 1.1750 as USD benefits from risk-aversion

EUR/USD comes under renewed bearish pressure in the European session and trades below 1.1750 following a recovery attempt earlier in the day. The US Dollar gathers strength and weighs on the pair as investors seek refuge in the wake of Israel and the United States' joint attack on Iran.

GBP/USD targets 1.3500 barrier near moving averages

GBP/USD rebounds from the daily losses, trading around 1.3450 during the Asian hours on Monday. The technical analysis of the daily chart indicates an ongoing bearish bias, as the pair trades within a descending channel pattern.

Gold surges on safe-haven demand, closes in on $5,400

Gold benefits from intense risk-aversion on Monday and climbs toward $5,400, setting a fresh monthly-high in the process. Tensions in the Middle East remain high as Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange strikes following the US-Israel joint attack on Iran over the weekend.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple under pressure as key supports face breakdown risk

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple prices trade on the back foot at the start of this week on Monday, after extending losses in the previous week. BTC is on the brink of a breakdown, ETH is capped below key resistance, and XRP risks a crack of the trendline.

The market is paying for insurance, not apocalypse

As expected, this morning felt less like a Monday market open and more like a fire drill. Futures screens flickered red. S&P contracts down almost 1%. Nasdaq off 1.2%. Brent leaped 13% through $80. Gold rose 1.6% toward $5350 before paring some gains. The dollar is strutting mildly. The Swiss franc is quietly doing what it always does in a storm, catching some safe-haven flows.

Starknet unveils strkBTC, shielded Bitcoin transactions on Ethereum Layer 2

Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, today announced strkBTC, a wrapped Bitcoin asset that introduces optional shielding while preserving full DeFi composability.