US equities rise ahead of Midterm results in choppy session as Crypto craters

US equities got off to flying start with reports of possible peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and a softening in the rate environment saw solid gains across the major indices for the first half of the session. Chaos in the Crypto market then hit dragging down stocks before a bounce off technical levels saw the Dow Jones still finish up over 1%.

Crypto markets were routed as founder of FTX crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried conceded it had liquidity problems amid a flood of withdrawals. As a result Binance has agreed to acquire the world’s largest crypto exchange but not before an interesting Twitter spat between the Binance CEO “CZ” and FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Bitcoin crashed below 2022 lows down to lows not seen since November 2020

The US Dollar index tumbled to 7 week lows, dropping below 110 and seeing EURUSD get back above parity, the Euro was helped by hawkish comments from ECB members de Guindos and Nagel, both who commented that the ECB should not let up in its inflation fight.

Dollar weakness and an uncertain risk environment saw gold spike up to over 1700 USD per ounce setting 5-week highs.

Crude oil plunged along with cryptos , down 3% for the session after stalling at the major resistance just below $91 as China Covid woes and comments from Omans energy minister who sees oil prices falling after the winter season weighed on the price.

Todays calendar is very light, with the only tier 1 scheduled release being Chinese CPI, US Midterm results filtering through will be the premier risk event for the next day or two.