Bitcoin Continues To Increase As US Inflation Expected To Slow Down

Bitcoin ( BTC ) continues its upward trend, surpassing $48,000 and reaching a new monthly high. AVAX, meanwhile, emerged as the top performer last week among the larger-cap altcoins. Other altcoins are also showing positive movements, with Ethereum (ETH) surpassing $2,500 and Solana (SOL) reaching $110. Slow And Steady The recent performance of BTC showcases significant fluctuations within the past week. It rebounded to around $43,000 last weekend and remained relatively stable until Wednesday, when it broke out of its trading range and surged to $48,200. Despite a slight decrease since then, Bitcoin still maintained a 2% increase for the day, with a market capitalization of $930 billion and dominance over altcoins at 52%. Several altcoins have also experienced notable gains, with Ethereum adding 2% and trading just above $2,500, and Solana rising by 3.5% to $110. Other altcoins such as BNB, XRP, DOGE, DOT, Chainlink, and Polygon have seen minor gains of around 1%. Avalanche stood out among the larger-cap altcoins, with its native token AVAX surging by almost 9% and trading close to $40. Additionally, mid-cap altcoins like IMX (13%), KAS (7%), and TAO (9%) also saw modest gains. The total cryptocurrency market cap has increased by $30 billion overnight, reaching close to $1.8 trillion on CoinMarketCap (CMC). Other Markets In other news, expectations of potential interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve have been fueled as a result of a likely slowdown in US inflation at the beginning of the year. The core consumer price index, excluding food and fuel, is also projected to increase by 3.7% comparative to a year earlier. Elsewhere, corporate earnings have exceeded expectations, leading Wall Street to raise profit forecasts. Additionally, despite warnings by regulators about potential risks to the financial system, US banks have loaned over $1 trillion to non-deposit-taking financial companies, such as fintechs and private credit investors, surpassing the amount of about $894 billion which was the figure for last year.