Sterling rose in European trade on Friday against a basket of major rivals, extending gains for the fourth straight session against the yen, and scaling a 16-year peak and trading above the psychological barrier of 200 yen for the first time since 2008. 

The UK-Japan interest rate gap is expected to hold for an extended duration in favor of the UK, in turn boosting the pound.

The Price 

GBP/USD rose 0.7% to 196.09 yen, the highest since 2008, with a session-low at 194.33. 

The pound rallied 0.6% against yen yesterday, the third profit in a row, amid renewed concerns about the UK-Japan interest rate gap.

Selloff

The yen continues to face massive selloff pressures against major rivals amid doubts about whether the Japanese authorities will actually intervene to support the yen.

The yen also lost ground after a bearish Bank of Japan policy meeting, which hurt the odds of a new Japanese interest rate hike this year. 

Interest Rate Gap

The current Japan-UK interest rate gap stands at 515 basis points in favor of the UK, and such a gap will continue to underpin the pound especially as the odds of early UK interest rate cuts this year diminish. 

BOJ Rates

The Bank of Japan raised interest rates in March for the first time in 17 years out of negative territory, however it almost ruled out another rate hike this year. 

Nvidia has witnessed one of the most stunning success stories in recent years.. But before we get into the details, let’s have a quick history lesson.

Nvidia was founded in 1993, and gained quick fame by producing GPUs for video games, which helped particularly with 3D display.

However, with recent sudden improvement in AI technology, the company’s GPUs found incredible applications, with fourth quarter earnings in 2023 surging by 265%. 

Just a decade ago, the company was valued at $10 billion, before surging to $50 billion in 2016, and as of 2024, it reached a valuation of $2 trillion, becoming the third largest publicly traded company in the world. 

In many cases, some people tend to put financial markets and especially the tech sector into a separate metal bucket away from the usual investments into value stores, such as gold and silver.

However in many cases, such precious metals are highly connected to tech. 

Gold for example is a major component in Nvidia products, alongside tin, tungsten, and others. 

Gold has proven once again its excellent industrial applications, especially with conduction and its chemical properties, which have proven useful in chips and internal computers keys and wires, despite the high cost. 

And as competition surges for AI-related GPUs, their prices are expected to surge and the direct link with gold prices will decline, which means companies will be able to utilize gold in GPUs with a freer hand. 

That’s why some inventive investors are betting on the combination of gold and AI, and it has to be rather ironic that one of the oldest and most traditional value storage items such as gold is now directly linked with the most cutting edge industry. 

US stock indices fell on Thursday following disappointing US data earlier today.

US GDP growth came in at 1.6% in the first quarter of 2024, down from 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023, while analysts expected a 2.4% growth rate. 

US personal spending, a major driver of growth, rose by 2.5% in the last quarter, down from 3% in the previous reading. 

Other data showed US unemployment claims fell by 5 thousand to 207 thousand in the week ending April 20, while analysts expected 215 thousand. 

On trading, Dow Jones fell 1.2%, or 477 points to 37,984, while S&P 500 fell 0.9%, or 44 points to 5,027, as NASDAQ gave up 1.3%, or 202 points to 15,510. 

Bitcoin fell on Thursday, extending losses for the third straight session and moving away from recent two-week highs on active profit-taking, following a sudden drop in investments into bitcoin exchange funds. 

For the first time since its launch on January 11, the BlackRock Bitcoin fund failed to attract investments, leading to a sudden drop in cash flow. 

The Price

Bitcoin fell 1.4% to $63.356 at Bitstamp, with a session-high at $64,708. 

Bitcoin tumbled 3.25% on Wednesday on active profit-taking off $67,241. 

Crypto Market Value

The market value of cryptocurrencies fell by $45 billion today to $2.455 trillion as both Bitcoin and Ethereum log in losses.

Sudden Drop in Cash Flow 

According to initial data, new cash flow to bitcoin funds traded in US exchanges tumbled this month. 

The bitcoin exchange fund managed by BlackRock lost its momentum on Wednesday, and failed to attract investments for the first time since its launch. 

It has already managed to attract over $15 billion so far, however all flow was focused in the first quarter, in turn hurting spot bitcoin prices.