A Pivotal Week for Markets: Central Banks, Inflation and Bitcoin

This is a crucial week for financial markets.

The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan had raised interest rates in September.

All three central banks are set to announce their next rate decisions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and Amazon are also due to report their quarterly earnings.

Meanwhile, the US will release key inflation and economic growth figures.

On Friday, Bitcoin options contracts worth approximately $11 billion are set to expire.

Here is the day-by-day schedule.

All times are in Türkiye time.

Wednesday, October 28

• 21:00 — Federal Reserve interest rate decision.
• 21:30 — Press conference by Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.
• The US interest rate currently stands in the 3.75%–4.00% range. Markets expect the Fed to leave rates unchanged at this meeting.
• After 23:00 — Earnings reports from Microsoft and Alphabet.

Thursday, October 29

• 15:30 — US third-quarter GDP figures and September PCE inflation data.
• PCE is the inflation measure the Fed uses to assess progress toward its 2% target. It stood at 3.4% in August, and economists expect a higher reading for September.
• 16:15 — European Central Bank interest rate decision.
• 16:45 — ECB press conference.
• The eurozone deposit rate stands at 2.50%. In a Reuters poll, 70 of 73 economists expect no change at this meeting.
• After 23:00 — Earnings reports from Amazon, Intel and memory-chip maker SanDisk.
• The Bank of Japan’s policy meeting gets underway.

Friday, October 30

• The Bank of Japan announces its interest rate decision in the morning.
• 09:30 — Press conference by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda.
• Japan’s interest rate stands at 1.25%.
• 11:00 — Monthly expiry of Bitcoin options. The total value of contracts reaching expiration is approximately $11 billion.

The markets enter the week at these levels

• Brent crude: $116.70 per barrel.
• US 10-year Treasury yield: 5%.
• US inflation: 3.7%.
• Dollar/yen exchange rate: 157.
• Gold: $4,000.
• Bitcoin: $80,000.

This week brings three central bank rate decisions, two economic data releases, five corporate earnings reports and one major options expiry.

All of it is packed into just three days.

The two main themes this week are rising inflation driven by oil prices and spending on artificial intelligence.

For crypto markets, the key events are Wednesday’s Fed decision, Thursday’s PCE inflation figures, Friday’s Bank of Japan announcement and the Bitcoin options expiry.

Mark November 3 on your calendar as well.

That is the date of the US congressional elections.

I’m following developments closely.

I’ll keep you informed as decisions are announced and economic data is released.

Kaynak: Penguin X (@ThePenguinBTC)