Gold, oil, Bitcoin tumble, dollar rises as US inflation comes higher than estimate

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – Gold, precious metals, crude oil, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrencies tumbled, while dollar increased as US inflation came much higher than market expectation on Wednesday.

The price of gold plummeted to $1,707.43 per ounce at 8.42 a.m. EDT (1242GMT) for almost a 1% daily loss, while silver dove to $18.862 an ounce at the same time, but later climbed back into positive territory.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell to $98.28 per barrel at 8.44 a.m. EDT, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $94.59 at the time. Both benchmarks were down almost 1% before regaining some of their losses.

The price of Bitcoin, the world's biggest crypto by market cap, plummeted to $18,911 at 8.42 a.m. EDT, while it was trading around $19,180 for a 3.7% loss at 9.14 a.m. EDT.

Some cryptocurrencies were down as much as 10% by the time, while total value of the crypto market lost $3 to $857 billion.

The US dollar index, on the other hand, jumped 0.4% to 108.58, posting a fresh 20-year record high level. Euro against the US dollar fell to as low as $0.9999.

The major selloff in commodities and cryptos came shortly after annual consumer inflation in the US rose 9.1% in June, much higher than the market estimate of 8.8%.

The biggest annual inflation increase since November 1981 triggers worries that the US Federal Reserve could make an interest rate hike of 100 basis points, instead of 75 points, in its upcoming meeting on July 27.

The Fed's aggressive monetary policy is also creating fears that the central bank could cause a recession in the US, which could rapidly spill over to global economy.