Crypto is more of a threat to gold than to the dollar
We get retail sales, and industrial production today, along with PPI. Retail sales is the important one but even so, with the $1.9 trillion recovery money still to come, not decisive. Retail sales fell 0.7% m/m in Dec, and is forecast up 0.9% by TradingEconomics.com. The WSJ has a more optimistic 1.2%.
Later in the day we get the Fed minutes, following comments from the three regional Fed presidents yesterday and ahead of Powell's congressional testimony next week. All three regional Fed presidents downplayed inflation fear and Daly (San Francisco) mentioned preventing unwarranted inflation fear to avoid premature tightening. There is also talk about how the Fed feels towards cryptocurrencies and the wild rise in bitcoin. The Fed is not indifferent, but crypto is more of a threat to gold than to the dollar.
