Welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on what's moving and why.
Crypto markets are taking a hit after the Senate voted to block the Clarity Act from advancing, a procedural defeat that sent Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major digital assets sharply lower. The bill aimed to establish a comprehensive federal regulatory framework for cryptocurrency, but enough senators voted against cloture to kill its momentum for now, leaving the industry without the legal clarity it has been pushing hard to secure.
Shifting to Washington and the broader market, all eyes are on the Federal Reserve heading into Wednesday, and while a rate hike is widely expected and largely priced in, it is not the hike itself that has investors on edge. The real anxiety is centered on what comes after — the language in the statement, the dot plot projections, and any signal from Chair Powell about the pace and ceiling of future tightening.
And in the livestock pits, cattle futures are posting meaningful losses at midday, with live contracts down nearly two dollars and feeders off by more than three dollars. Cash trade has not yet developed this week following last week's firmer prints in the two twenty two to two twenty five range, and that uncertainty is weighing on the front months as traders wait for fresh direction from the cash market.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
