News & Research

St. Louis Fed President Musalem said on April 15 that high oil prices could keep core inflation about one percentage point above the central bank's 2% target for the rest of the year, potentially requiring interest rates to remain at their current levels. He noted a high probability that oil prices would pass through to core inflation, projecting the year-end figure to be around 3% or slightly below, with risks of further increases. Musalem explained that the Fed is likely to maintain its benchmark rate, currently in the 3.50% to 3.75% range, for some time while monitoring incoming data on inflation, employment, and the economy over the next several months. He added that many of his colleagues share this view. While the effects of last year's tariff hikes are fading and housing inflation is slowing, Musalem stated he would remain open to raising rates if rising prices begin to push up inflation expectations. He also warned that the oil market is facing its third negative supply shock in 12 months and that, combined with tariff increases and stricter immigration rules, both the inflation outlook and the job market are at risk, which could also harm economic growth. However, he still expects the economy to grow by 1.5% to 2% this year, despite a slowdown.

The United States and Iran may resume negotiations in Pakistan next week, MSNBC reported, citing two Pakistani officials.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig has vowed to crack down on fraud and insider trading in a written statement submitted to Congress. Selig stressed that perpetrators will be identified and will face all sanctions permitted by law.

The U.S. Treasury Department has added multiple vessels related to Iran to its sanctions list.

Delysium co-founder Wu Shenkun deposited 131,750 RAVE, worth $1.7 million, to Bitget approximately 30 minutes ago, EmberCN reported. Wu received the tokens in an airdrop two months ago, at which point they were valued at just $46,000.

A Bitcoin reserve address linked to Tether withdrew 951 BTC, worth approximately $70.47 million, from Bitfinex about 15 minutes ago, EmberCN reported. The transaction is believed to represent Tether's purchases for the first quarter. Since 2023, the wallet has been used to buy BTC with 15% of the company's profits. The address now holds 77,141 BTC, making it the fifth-largest Bitcoin wallet globally. This brings Tether's average purchase price for its BTC to $51,312, with an estimated unrealized profit of $2.175 billion.

Mythos, a high-performance vulnerability detection AI developed by Anthropic, could fundamentally shake the cryptocurrency security ecosystem, CryptoSlate reported. The AI demonstrated its capabilities by instantly identifying a 27-year-old bug in the Linux kernel that had eluded human security experts for months. Security experts are warning that DeFi and cross-chain bridges, which operate on open-source code, could be left defenseless against indiscriminate, automated attacks by such an AI. Concerns are growing that billions of dollars in assets could be stolen before humans can even recognize a bug, due to the immediate and irreversible nature of cryptocurrency transactions.

A high-level Pakistani political and security delegation, led by Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir, arrived in Tehran on April 15. The delegation is set to deliver the latest message from the U.S. to Iran and meet with Iranian officials to discuss matters related to a second round of Iran-U.S. negotiations scheduled to be held in Islamabad.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened higher today. - S&P 500: +0.16% - Nasdaq: +0.19% - Dow Jones: +0.31%

BNB Chain announced it has burned a total of 1.56 million BNB, worth approximately $1.0021 billion, as part of its 35th scheduled burn for the first quarter.