Investment banking giant Goldman Sachs brought forward its estimate for the Federal Reserve's first interest-rate cut to third-quarter 2024 from a previous forecast of the fourth quarter, Reuters reported Monday.
The shift comes as bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market has surged in recent weeks on a bullish cocktail of an expected spot ETF launch in the U.S., the impending Bitcoin mining reward halving and the decline in the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield, the so-called risk-free rate.
The Fed's benchmark interest rate is currently 5.25% to 5.5%, with traders of the Fed funds futures anticipating a decline to a range starting at 4% by the end of the next year.
When interest rates drop, borrowing becomes cheaper, spurring risk-taking in the economy and financial markets, including cryptocurrencies. The opposite happens when rates rise rapidly, as observed in 2022.
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The Fed kicked off its tightening cycle in March 2022 to tame inflation, raising rates from as low as 0%-0.25% with the most recent increase occurring in July. The rapid rise in borrowing costs weighed on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, last year.