The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its May meeting, which showed the bank expects one or two 0.25% interest rate cuts by the end of the year. 

The Federal Open Market Committee sees Trump’s April tariffs as highly detrimental to the global risk sentiment. 

However, such an impact was largely reversed in the opinion of the FOMC following measures that opened the door for trade negotiations. 

The minutes added that Trump’s trade policies weakened GDP growth outlook in 2025 and 2026 according to estimates by Fed economists. 

US stock indices fell on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes, with eyes focused on Nvidia’s earnings results. 

Later today, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of the May meeting, at which it voted to hold interest rates unchanged and expressed concerns about tariffs.

Also, Nvidia will release its results later today, expected to show a 66% surge in earnings in the first quarter of the financial year to $43.3 billion.

On trading, Dow Jones fell 0.1% as of 15:36 GMT to 42292 points, while S&P 500 shed 0.1% to 5912 points, as NASDAQ slid 0.1% to 19163 points.

Copper prices rose on Wednesday on the outlook of lower supplies at the London Metals Exchange, even as US-China trade tensions keep the price in a tight range.

Copper three-month futures rose 0.5% in London to $9639 a ton, with a two-week high at $9655.

Copper is up 5.7% so far this month as global trade tensions calmed down compared to the chaos of Trump’s tariffs in April.

The metal is boosted by lower inventories at the London Metals Exchange, which fell 43% since mid-February to 154,300 tons, a year low.

Spot copper prices and three-month futures had a $40 a ton price divergence last week, up sharply from $3 in the previous week, indicating impending low supplies. 

US President Trump has strongly hinted at a 25% tariff on copper imports in February, leading to accelerated shipments to the US, and sending US prices to a record $11,633 a ton in March, which is $1570 higher than London prices.

Copper prices are expected to waver amid ongoing US-EU trade tensions, with global copper demand expected to outstrip supplies by 30% by 2035 due to the shift to clean energy, which would likely raise prices in the long term.

As for other metals, aluminum rose 0.1% today to $2485 a ton, while zinc rose 0.1% as well to $2707 a ton, while lead shed 0.3% to $1979, as tin declined 2% to $31,870, while nickel fell 1.7% to $15,150.

Separately, the dollar index rose 0.3% as of 15:00 GMT to 99.8, with a session-high at 99.8, and a low at 99.4.

On trading, copper July futures fell 1.2% as of 14:56 GMT to $4.68 a pound.

Bitcoin fell on Wednesday despite positive momentum and the convention of the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, while both Ripple and Solana lost 1%.

The decline comes a week after bitcoin hit a record high near $112,000 on hopes for trade deals with US partners, and supportive legislation in the Senate.

Institutional Support for Bitcoin

The annual bitcoin conference in Las Vegas showcased increasing acceptance for bitcoin payment methods through Square and other mechanisms, with application expected in the second half of 2025.

Donald Trump Junior expressed great optimism during the conference, and announced a bitcoin treasury within the Trump Media, collecting over $2.5 billion to invest in the cryptocurrency.

GameStop Enters Bitcoin World 

On May 28, Gamestop announced its first direct investment in bitcoin, purchasing 4710 units at a value of $513 million.

The company’s stock spiked 30% in 30 days and reached $36.30 in pre-market trading today.

Otherwise, some House Democrats said they’ll withdraw their support for the Stablecoin project on concerns about Trump’s bitcoin investments. 

It comes after the Trump Media & Technology Group confirmed plans to gather $2.5 billion to invest into bitcoin, divided into:

$1.5 billion from stock sales

$1 billion from interest-free convertible bond coupons

Otherwise, the Circle company that issues USDC announces an IPO at the New York Exchange, with 9.6 million shares directly issued, and 14.4 million shares sold by current shareholders, and potentially an additional 3.6 million shares to cover the IPO.

Price Outlook

Bitcoin is currently down 0.5% to $109.1 thousand on Coinmarketcap as of 13:44 GMT.

However, several analysts expect prices to surge to as far as $135,000 through June. if market conditions continued to be favorable.

Historic Performance 

Bitcoin hit a record high of $112,000 last week, amid strong institutional demand and investments into bitcoin ETFs. 

JPMorgan already expects bitcoin to outmatch gold in the second half of the year, bolstered by increasing institutional dependence on the cryptocurrency, and the new batch of supportive global legislations.