Powell hints at rate cut in September, US stocks surge, Bitcoin falls to $64K

The Federal Reserve announced to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged in the range of 5.25% to 5.5%, but Chairman Powell released dovish remarks after the press conference, hinting a possible rate cut in September. This led to a broad rally in the U.S. stock market, with the S&P 500 rising by 1.58% and the Nasdaq surging by 2.64% driven by tech stocks such as Nvidia and TSMC. However, Bitcoin took a different path, dropping from above 66K after the press conference and trading around $64,783 at the time of writing, marking a nearly 2% decline in the past 24 hours.

Powell: Possible Rate Cut in September

The Federal Reserve maintained interest rates at the end of its policy meeting on Wednesday, noting that it had made "some further progress" in bringing inflation down to the central bank's 2% target.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference after the meeting that while no decisions had been made on future actions, if economic data shows a slowdown in inflation, a rate cut could be implemented as early as September.

If this test is passed, our policy rate could be lowered as soon as the next meeting in September.

The FedWatch tool from CME Group shows that traders expect rate cuts of a quarter-point at each of the three rate meetings before the end of the year.

U.S. Stocks Soar, Bitcoin Falls to 64K

Boosted by Powell's dovish comments on a potential rate cut, U.S. stocks surged, with the S&P 500 rising 1.58% and the Nasdaq soaring 2.64% led by tech stocks like Nvidia and TSMC.

However, Bitcoin did not follow the surge in U.S. stocks, instead falling from above 66K after the press conference to $64,783 at the time of writing, a nearly 2% drop in 24 hours.

The mini version of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, BTC, officially launched following the split of Grayscale GBTC yesterday, with no outflows seen in the market.

Grayscale GBTC plunges over 11%! Due to split into mini trust BTC

Seven Ethereum spot ETFs have been trading for six days, with the daily inflows finally turning positive for the first time, totaling $33.7 million. This is believed to be due to the significant slowdown in outflows from Grayscale ETHE. Meanwhile, BlackRock investment chief indicated that some investment banks are considering adding Ethereum ETFs to their portfolios.

Ethereum spot ETF sees first day of net inflows! Grayscale ETHE selling pressure eases, poised for institutional portfolio inclusion

ETH's trend is similar to BTC's, falling from above $3,300 after the press conference to $3,232 at the time of writing.