Investing.com– rose more than 1,000 points and was inching close to $66,000 levels on Monday, as a halt in U.S.-Iran attacks over the weekend sent oil prices sharply lower and reduced immediate inflation concerns, while investors awaited this week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 1.8% higher at $65,736 by 09:52 ET (13:52 GMT), recovering from last week’s volatility as investors returned to risk assets.
Bitcoin ended the last week largely unchanged amid choppy trading.
Get premium crypto market insights with InvestingPro subscription — now at 60% off
US-Iran conflict pause pushes oil lower; Fed awaited
Market sentiment improved after Iran said it would pause retaliatory attacks if Washington refrained from further military action, while the U.S. also halted its bombing campaign, easing fears of a broader regional conflict.
The de-escalation triggered a sharp retreat in oil prices, with falling more than 5%, helping to ease concerns that higher energy costs could reignite inflation and force central banks to keep monetary policy tighter for longer.
The softer inflation outlook also weighed on the U.S. dollar, making dollar-denominated assets such as cryptocurrencies more attractive to overseas investors.
Investor attention has now shifted to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this week. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, although traders will closely scrutinize Chair Kevin Warsh’s comments for clues on the policy outlook through the remainder of the year.
Markets currently assign roughly a one-third probability of a rate increase at the meeting.
Higher interest rates typically reduce the appeal of speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies by increasing returns on safer investments and tightening financial conditions.
Broader financial markets also reflected improving risk appetite. U.S. stock futures advanced, and rose alongside cryptocurrencies.
Technology heavyweights including Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are scheduled to release earnings, with markets closely watching their outlooks for artificial intelligence spending and whether strong corporate results can extend the recent rally in risk assets.
Bitcoin has increasingly traded in line with technology stocks and other risk assets this year.
Crypto price today: altcoins rise, Ether jumps 4%
Most altcoins edged higher on Monday, tracking Bitcoin gains.
World no.2 crypto climbed 4.5% to $1,967.92.
World no. 3 crypto rose more than 1% to $1.108.
advanced nearly 3%, while traded largely flat.
Among meme tokens, edged down 0.7%.
Vahid Karaahmetovic and Ayushman Ojha contributed to this report.