Bitcoin Price (BTC) Dips to $101K, XRP, ADA, LTC Drops 10% on Federal Reserve’s Hawkish Tone
The post Bitcoin Price (BTC) Dips to $101K, XRP, ADA, LTC Drops 10% on Federal Reserve’s Hawkish Tone appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
The U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark fed funds rate by 25 basis points to the 4.25%-4.50% range, its third consecutive easing move this year and now marking a total of 100 basis points of rate cuts since September. Market participants had fully expected Wednesday’s move by the central bank, but recent data had shown continued solid economic growth and perky inflation. This turned the focus today to the policy statement, updated economic projections and the upcoming press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell for clues about the Fed’s thinking on future policy actions. The Fed’s quarterly economic projections — which include the “dot plot” indicating where the central bank expects the Fed funds rate to land over time — reveal that policymakers expect the Fed funds rate to decline to 3.9% by year-end 2025 or another 50 basis points in rate cuts next year. That’s higher than the 3.4% projected in September, signaling a less dovish monetary policy in 2025. Fed members’ projections for Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) and core PCE inflation for next year rose to 2.5% from September’s forecast of 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively. Already lower in the session, the price of bitcoin (BTC) turned lower from $104,000 following the announcement, dipping to around $101,000 as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s spoke to the press, down nearly 5% over the past 24 hours. Smaller cryptos tumbled even more, with XRP, Cardano’s ADA, Litecoin’s LTC nearly 10% down. The S&P 500 index also fell to a session low on Wednesday. CoinDesk 20 Index constituents (CoinDesk) During the press conference following the FOMC decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the projected slower path of further rate cuts is a reflection of hotter inflation readings in previous months and higher inflation expectations for next year. “We are closer to the neutral…