Weekly Market and Economic Highlights

• Market took to the highs aggressively this week after taking the 56,000 lows, BTC is seen almost tapping 68,000, hard resistance. ETH on the other hand took it slow and steady – respecting previous lows from May, and rising steadily this week to initial sell off levels, 3490.
• Most alts are lagging structurally vs BTC and ETH, currently at lows or barely starting to go up. Given majors’ resistance is near, a cool off seems likely unless next week’s events, Ether ETFs, nudge buyers to kick off trend continuation.
• Stocks reached all-time highs at the beginning of the week as predictions of increased market volatility did not come to pass, following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which boosted his chances of winning the presidency.
• Stocks dropped midweek from their record highs due to worries about stricter US restrictions on chip sales to China, leading to a significant decline in the industry that has driven the bull market.
• By the end of the week, stocks faced renewed pressure as big tech couldn’t sustain the broader market.
• The euro declined on speculation that the European Central Bank will reduce rates in September.
• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink referred to Bitcoin as digital gold following the asset manager’s issuance of a Spot BTC ETF this year. In an interview with CNBC, Fink discussed Bitcoin and affirmed that it is “absolutely” an asset people should consider for long-term investment.
• Blackstone President Jon Gray stated that the world’s largest alternative asset manager is prepared to seize opportunities as property markets rebound. They’re expanding a commercial mortgage bond offering to help finance part of their $10 billion acquisition of the apartment landlord AIR Communities.
• Home mortgage lenders will now be required to adhere to new standards aimed at ensuring their technology-driven appraisals do not introduce flaws that could result in inaccurate estimates or discrimination against borrowers.
• According to a recent Keyrock report, USDT and USDC are at the forefront of the stablecoin market, each occupying unique roles in the crypto ecosystem. USDT continues to dominate as the preferred trading pair on centralized exchanges due to its early market entry, while USDC is gaining significant traction in DeFi applications, providing a wider range of use cases.