{"id":8410,"date":"2022-02-21T01:41:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T01:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/crypto-market-braces-for-volatile-week-ahead-of-feds-emergency-meeting\/"},"modified":"2022-02-21T01:41:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T01:41:09","slug":"crypto-market-braces-for-volatile-week-ahead-of-feds-emergency-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/crypto-market-braces-for-volatile-week-ahead-of-feds-emergency-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto Market Braces for Volatile Week Ahead of Fed\u2019s \u2018Emergency Meeting\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Source: A video screenshot, Yotube, CNBC Television<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The US Federal Reserve<\/strong> (Fed) is set to hold an unscheduled meeting on Monday to discuss interest rates, described by some as an \u201cemergency meeting\u201d and others as a fairly \u201cregular occurrence.\u201d Regardless, the Fed\u2019s unexpected notice has sparked debate in the crypto community over whether the central bank will announce a rate hike — and if so, how high, and how many of them there will be this year.<\/p>\n

The unscheduled meeting, which the Fed said will be held under \u201cexpedited procedures,\u201d is set for Monday at 11:30 EST (16:30 UTC). And according to the Fed\u2019s public notice, interest rates is the only item on the agenda.<\/p>\n

The notice has led to a flurry of speculation in the crypto community about what the Fed is planning to do, given the market\u2019s expectation that the first rate hike from the Fed would not come before mid-March.<\/p>\n

Notably, the unscheduled meeting did not come as a complete surprise for some, with for instance Sven Henrich, the founder of trading and analysis website NorthmanTrader<\/strong>, saying ahead of time that the best thing the Fed can do to restore credibility is \u201ca surprise rate hike before the next Fed meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRate hike next week,\u201d Henrich followed up by asking once the meeting was announced yesterday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Fed is calling an emergency meeting for Monday\u201d and is \u201csweating bullets\u201d over last month\u2019s 7.5% inflation, said the popular bitcoin (BTC) advocate and podcast host Marty Bent. He added that he believes the central bank will raise rates before its next scheduled meeting in March.<\/p>\n

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Similarly, Nik Bhatia, a finance professor at the University of Southern California<\/strong> and author of the popular bitcoin book Layered Money<\/i>, also wondered whether the Fed is planning to raise rates on Monday, although he said it would be \u201cutterly comical\u201d if it did.<\/p>\n

Following up on his own tweet later today, however, Bhatia appeared to conclude that no rate hike should be expected, saying:\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“Nope, they will not hike Monday, they made sure this rumor was walked back overnight.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The US central bank has been criticized by many recently for \u201cfalling behind the curve\u201d on rate hikes, with heavyweight institutional investors such as hedge fund manager Bill Ackman saying<\/a> last month that the Fed is \u201closing the inflation battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar sentiment was shared by Omar Slim, a portfolio manager at Singapore-based PineBridge Investments<\/strong>. \u201cThe fact that they went on for so long with the transitory inflation narrative really hurt their credibility and I think they do need to catch up in terms of being ahead of the curve,\u201d Slim told Bloomberg as early as last month. He added that a 0.5% rate hike \u201cis not off the table\u201d for the March meeting.<\/p>\n