Traditional Markets

In this graph, we can see the reaction from the Dow Jones to the rapid succession of announcements.

In the currency markets, things were more unidirectional. Both the CPI announcement and the Sec State's sacking were seen as Dollar negative.

What was interesting about this sell-off, in particular, is that there was that there was indeed an element of "flight to safety." Something we had not specifically seen in other recent bouts of volatility.

Traders rushed into bonds and the yields came down. The 10 Year Yield that we've been watching closely, sank to it's lowest point this month.

Gold, which was reacting negatively to the inflation data, reversed its course to end the day higher.

Weighing in on Crypto

In yesterday's update, we spoke about the tome economists' take on cryptocurrencies. Today, it seems we're seeing even bigger players weighing in. 

A few hours ago, the head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde published a brilliant blog post in which she stated that governments and regulators should be "Fighting fire with fire."

Lagarde is quick to point out that the same technology that has enabled this industry to grow so quickly can also be instrumental in keeping it clean. 

My favorite part of Christine's post was her conclusion, which seemed to me particularly optimistic and level-headed... 

The idea of using blockchain to clean up not only the crypto industry but to even expand to clean other areas is gaining traction lately and this post showed up on the new blockchain section of the World Economic Forum's website.

While the big financial institutions get their act together, it seems the big tech companies are taking a rather different approach.

Last night, Google joined Facebook in the all-out crypto advertisement ban. So no more ads for ICOs, or crypto's, or bitcoin in search results for the time being.

Bitcoin is having a bad morning on the back of the announcement and has just broken below $9,000. 

As we've been discussing for a few months already, the long-term support remains just below $8,000 a coin so we're still holding that level just fine. 

Let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything further.