Financial markets are tight ahead of March price data in the US.

The week started off with a moderate risk mood in financial markets with Asian equities and the US dollar rising slightly on Monday. Subsequently, the atmosphere became gloomy on Tuesday evening and Wednesday a few hours before the publication of the American consumer price index eagerly awaited by market players. It is indeed the CPI that will give more insight to the evolution of inflation and the futures reactions of the Fed.

Asian stocks fell on Wednesday ahead of a crucial US inflation report that will likely influence when the Federal Reserve ends its aggressive rate hikes. Additionally, turmoil in the banking sector following the failures of Silicon Bank and Signature Bank had raised some expectations that the Fed might need to cut interest rates to ease some of the stress in the market, but an inflationary environment is unlikely to give the Fed much leeway. The cut in oil production announced by the OPEC+ group last week also stoked fears of a spike in inflation. In addition, there will need to be a sharp decline in service prices to alleviate concerns about inflation.

In the forex market, the US dollar index fell 0.07% to 102.05 against a basket of major currencies. The euro was last up 0.12% at $1.0926 and the pound was up 0.02% at $1.2430.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $2,017.09 an ounce, at 0624 GMT. US gold futures rose 0.7% to $2,032.60.

Cryptocurrency major bitcoin broke the key $30,000 level on Tuesday for the first time in 10 months, adding to its steady gains as investors bet the US Federal Reserve would soon end its aggressive tightening campaign monetary.

Written by Steve Keutcha - Head of trading.