What to know : Trading around $74,000 for much of the last 24 hours, bitcoin quickly fell back to $72,500 following reports of stepped-up attacks against Iran's energy resources and an unexpectedly hot February PPI report. Results of the Federal Reserve's March policy meeting will come later today, and investors will be on the lookout for clues about how the central bank feels about the recent sharp rise in oil prices.
Quiet bitcoin price action in the $74,000 area was shattered Wednesday morning on reports of military escalation in Iran and then February inflation data that came in far stronger than expected.
The declines started as U.S. President Donald Trump struck a more aggressive tone on Iran, suggesting further escalation in a series of Truth Social posts and calling the country the "NUMBER ONE STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR."
Alongside, Iran's state TV reported that part of that country's South Pars gas field was attacked.
This followed reports that Israel killed Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, while the U.S. deployed 5,000-pound bunker-buster bombs targeting missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil flows.
That news combined to send the price of WTI crude oil from as low as $92 per barrel overnight to nearly $96.
Minutes later, the U.S. Producer Price Index for February rose 0.7% versus just 0.3% expected and up from January's 0.5%. The core PPI rose 0.5% versus 0.3% expected, though down from January's 0.8%. Importantly, the disturbing inflation data is from prior to the attacks against Iran and the subsequent sharp rise in the price of oil.
The data complicates the outlook for rate cuts, especially with oil prices still elevated, and is weighing on risk assets ahead of the U.S. stock market open.
Bitcoin has now fallen to $72,300, down 2% over the past 24 hours. Declines for ether (ETH), solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) are closer to 3%. U.S. stock index futures have swung from solid gains to declines of about 0.4% across the board.
Fed comes later
Later in the day, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold rates steady, shifting the focus to Chair Jerome Powell’s messaging and how policymakers interpret the recent mix of growth risks and inflation pressures. Trump once again renewed calls for rate cuts in a Wednesday post, adding a political dimension to the meeting.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
