Oil steadies, gold plunge, bitcoin under pressure

OPEC+ threats lending support

It’s been another volatile week for oil prices, with global growth fears dampening the demand outlook but OPEC+ sitting in the background ready to respond if prices drop too far. Brent crude remains above $90 at the moment which may stop the alliance from calling one of the emergency meetings it warned of but if growth fears continue to rise, that may change.

A knockout blow

Gold broke below $1,680 on Thursday and has been heavily under pressure since, falling close to $1,650 before finding some support. The yellow metal was already facing strong resistance above, failing to break through $1,730 even when the market was front-running a softer inflation reading and the CPI data appears to have delivered the knockout blow. With more tightening now priced in, the near-term outlook is challenging.

Bitcoin under pressure

As some suggested, the Ethereum Merge appears to have become a “sell the fact” event and bitcoin is potentially getting dragged lower as well. Of course, broader risk appetite has also taken a big hit recently, so that is probably strongly contributing to the move as we head into the weekend. With the price back below $20,000 once more, the focus may shift back to the June lows after a brief recovery last week.

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