On Monday (July 19), fresh concerns over COVID-19 resurgence in the UK, U.S., and elsewhere seems to have put the market into a risk-off mood, resulting in falls in the prices of both stocks and cryptoassets.
As CNBC reported earlier today, “Covid cases have rebounded in the U.S. this month with the delta variant spreading among the unvaccinated.” According to data by the CDC, “the U.S. is averaging nearly 30,000 new cases a day in the last seven days ending Friday, up from a seven-day average of around 11,000 cases a day a month ago.”
Last week, Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon said during his company’s Q2 2021 earnings call:
“From here, I remain concerned about the prospect of a pandemic resurgence. The delta variant, should it spread further, could spear policy actions with slow economic growth. We are already seeing this play out in places like Hong Kong and Australia and potentially in parts of Europe.
“While vaccine take-up is progressing, it is not consistent across communities and nations, including parts of the United States. Widespread vaccine distribution and high vaccine rates are critical to open and thriving economies. I want to urge policymakers, government officials and business leaders across jurisdictions to do all they can to facilitate these efforts.“
As of 14:56 UTC on July 19, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite are down 816.55 (-2.35%), 78.96 (1.82%), and 206.82 (-1.43%) respectively.
The flight to traditional risk-off meant that at one point today the yield on the U.S. 10 Year Treasury Note fell to as low as 1.184%, its lowest level in five months. As for the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), naturally, it is currently (as of 15:01 UTC on July 19) at 92.82 (+0.15%), and earlier today, it reached 93.03, its highest level since early April.
As for the crypto market, according to data by TradingView, on crypto exchange Bitstamp, the Bitcoin price reached its current intraday low of $30,530 at 14:20 UTC. Currently (as of 15:20 UTC), BTC-USD is trading around $30,907, down 1.62% in the past 24-hour period.
As for Ethereum, per data by CryptoCompare, ETH-USD is currently trading around $1,823, down 3.63% in the past 24-hour period.
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The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
