Wednesday, Dec 28, 2022

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill ||

Hello all! I hope that those of you who were able to take a break over the past few days have managed to recharge, ‘cos there are intense times ahead – and that those of you who have yet to take some time off are carving out time to do the same. Here in Madrid over Christmas, the sun was shining, the fairy lights twinkled, the wine flowed, and other than an emergency trip to the vet because a certain canine snuck into the kitchen and devoured half a tray of freshly baked brownies while we were opening presents, it was a blissfully peaceful few days.

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MARKETS

Good news is bad news

Hopes of the “Santa rally” that often animates stock markets in the last week of the year seem to be fading as the uncertainty intensifies over what is good news and what is bad. China’s reopening – which seems to be gathering steam as testing requirements and border restrictions are relaxed – should boost global economic activity, which is good. But this could further fuel inflation, which is bad.

BTC was more or less flat over the holiday break, until yesterday’s jump in bond yields (the US 10-year yield reached its highest point since mid-November) triggered another bout of risk-off selling, dragging BTC down to mid-December levels. Other tokens, including ETH, fared worse, pushing bitcoin’s dominance back above 42.2% - apart from a brief blip in mid-December, this is the highest level since early August.

(chart via TradingView)