Yahoo Finance Cardano leads crypto fall as US inflation hits 40-year high
Cardano leads the pack of falling blue chip cryptocurrencies as investors turn cautious ahead of Thursday's release of the latest inflation data from the US.
The crypto-ecosystem turned a sea of red on Thursday, marching in lockstep with falling equity markets after US inflation came in above expectations for September.
The US consumer price index (CPI) stood at 8.2% last month, down from 8.3% in August but higher than economists had expected.
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Cardano (ADA-USD), which is number 8 in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings, has fallen almost 9% in the past 24 hours. The proof-of-stake blockchain platform is now priced at $0.36, down over 15% in the last seven days.
Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) is not far behind, having started the day in freefall, down almost 5% to $0.057, a drop of over 10% in the last week.
Market front runners such as bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) fared a little better, with bitcoin holding its ground at $19,000, down 0.5% in the past day. Ethereum saw a fall of 1.4% in the past 24 hours to $1,277.
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The US Federal Reserve is expected to stick with its hawkish interest rate hikes, leading to more retreats away from high-risk assets such as bitcoin and the rest of the crypto offerings.
The market pessimism was reinforced by the release of Federal Open Market Committee, FOMC, minutes that reveal the Federal Reserve is still committed to raising interest rates.
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The meeting summary stated: "Inflation is showing little sign so far of abating and the Committee had raised their assessment of the path of the federal funds rate that would likely be needed to achieve the Committee’s goals.”
“Participants judged that the Committee needed to move to, and then maintain, a more restrictive policy stance in order to meet the Committee’s legislative mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability."
Signs of risk-off sentiment from investors were explicitly felt after US equity markets extended their declines at the close of trade on Wednesday.
US contracts fluctuated after a sixth consecutive decline for the S&P 500, which hit the lowest level since November 2020. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 11.81 points to 3,577.03, down 0.33%. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell 9.09 points to 10,417.10-9.09, 0.09%.
European stocks also fell, down for a seventh day in the longest losing streak since February 2018, with the Stoxx Europe 600 (^STOXX) down 0.4%.
As equity markets struggle under tightening monetary conditions, bitcoin is still showing its tendency to march in lockstep with US stocks, such as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq (^IXIC).
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