Bitcoin back above $58,000 as Fed cites 'lack of further progress' fighting inflation

Bitcoin BTC -2.66% 's price increased back above the $58,000 mark on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates at their current level on Wednesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee did what the majority of analysts predicted and held the benchmark federal funds rate in the current range of between 5.25% and 5.50%. "In support of its goals, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.50%," the central bank said in a statement .

Regarding the possibility of a rate cut, the central bank said that "the Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%."

Slower pace of decline of securities

"In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities. Beginning in June, the Committee will slow the pace of decline of its securities holdings by reducing the monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities from $60 billion to $25 billion," the FOMC statement added.

The statement added that it will maintain the monthly redemption cap on agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities at $35 billion and will reinvest any principal payments in excess of this cap into Treasury securities.

Spike in bitcoin short liquidations

Bitcoin is precariously holding around the $58,000 mark, with a spike in BTC short liquidations observed in the past hour. Shorts bore the brunt of recent liquidations, with $6 million out of $6.8 million liquidated in the past hour.

Major stock indices remained strong in the face of the new reality that cuts might come later than expected. During mid-day trade in the U.S. on Friday, the Dow Jones was up 0.4%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.02% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.03%. Equity market volatility saw an uptick over the past day. The CBOE Volatility Index ( VIX ), which measures the expected volatility of the S&P 500 index over the next 30 days, rose 0.15% to 15.79 points. Gold increased 0.56% over the past 24 hours to $ 2,304 per ounce .

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked down slightly after the Fed announcement, settling at 4.683% on Tuesday.

According to Wednesday's QCP Capital report, the U.S. dollar "is on a rampaging rally against everything." The report's analysts noted that the USD-JPY pair breached a historic 160 level on Monday, forcing the Bank of Japan to intervene. "U.S. two-year yields broke above 5% on the back of resurgent inflation fears and the market is very nervous about ten-year yields breaking above 5% as well," added.

The CME's FedWatch tool now forecasts a 93.6% likelihood that rates will remain steady at June's FOMC meeting.

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