US Economic Calendar Meets Crypto: Key Week for CPI Forecast and Bitcoin ETF Decisions

Another busy week lies ahead with a packed economic calendar for the United States. Key reports are putting inflation back in the spotlight, and a busy stretch of bank earnings is coming at the end of the week.

Macroeconomics outlet The Kobeissi Letter listed the key economic events for the United States for the week beginning January 8.

This Week’s Economic Calendar

They release reports on consumer credit, trade deficit, and wholesale inventories on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but these generally have a low impact.

However, things may get interesting on Thursday when they publish the December consumer price index report. The CPI figures are the highlight of the week’s economic calendar. These reports assist markets in assessing whether inflation continues its downward trend or stalls near 3%.

The CPI is forecast to rise 0.2% in December, and such an increase in consumer prices would not be too large. However, it would halt some of the recent progress on inflation as the annual increase in prices could tick up to 3.3% from 3.1%.

This may have a knock-on effect on the Federal Reserve’s policies and its efforts to bring down interest rates.

Weekly economics calendar. Source: X/@markets_bot

The monthly budget deficit for December will be announced on December 11 and is expected to total about $62.5 billion. Moreover, US national debt hit a record high of $34 trillion last week. It does not appear to be slowing down.

All eyes will be on the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, December 10. This is the final date for the ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF decision. Analysts remain confident that the regulator will approve all of the applications at once to prevent a first-mover advantage.

There is a slew of bank earnings calls on Friday, December 12, where quarterly reports will be released. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, BlackRock, BNY Mellon, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase are among the banks in the spotlight this week.

Crypto Market Weekend Outlook

The economic events are unlikely to impact crypto markets, which will only make a big move on the SEC’s decision. There may be an initial spike from good news. However, a larger dump is expected if SEC denials occur.

Markets continued their slow decline over the weekend. The total capitalization dropped to $1.68 trillion by Monday morning trading in Asia.

Bitcoin shed 1.4% in a fall to $43,283. On the other hand, Ethereum retreated 3% back to $2,175 at the time of press.

Moreover, most of the high-cap altcoins are getting hit hard with heavy losses. Solana, Avalanche, Cardano, Polkadot, and Polygon are all heavily in the red at the time of writing.

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