Stronger Activity Seen Behind Litecoin Surge — Market Talk

1407 ET - Litecoin remains up over 21%, at nearly $74. Reasons behind the uptick, the largest among major cryptocurrencies, are unclear. "I don't see one clear fundamental catalyst that fully explains the move," says Lacie Zhang of Bitget Wallet. "It looks more like a combination of unusually strong network activity, a technical breakout, and a short squeeze." Nearly $5 million in LTC positions have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinglass--with $2.2 billion in volume traded in that timeframe, up 144%. The uptick brings the token to its highest level since January. ([email protected])1356 ET - Long-term yields are being driven up by forces that are out of the Federal Reserve's control, CIFC's Natalia Lojevsky says in a note. Last week's rate hike changed the Treasury curve but not the level, Lojevsky says. The heavy supply of Treasurys on the market, oil being higher than $100 a barrel, an expansive AI infrastructure buildout and a global bond selloff are now dictating yield levels, she says. The recent 5-year Treasury auction drew the weakest demand since 2018, showing that buyers are getting pickier about duration even at high levels, Lojevsky says. "The risks to yields skew higher, and a quarter-point hike doesn't change that," she says. ([email protected])1353 ET - Cox Automotive raises its full-year 2026 new-vehicle sales forecast to 16.1 million units from 15.8 million, reflecting a more resilient demand than expected. The market is facing higher fuel prices, elevated interest rates and ongoing economic uncertainty, Cox says, but adds that strong summer sales performance, improving credit availability and sustained consumer demand prompted the upward revision. Both new retail sales and fleet sales forecasts were increased. Retail is now expected to reach 13.1 million units and fleet is projected at 3 million units, Cox says. September's new-vehicle sales pace is expected to finish near 16.3 million, below last year's 16.6 million level and down from August's 16.8 million pace, Cox adds. ([email protected])1233 ET - Litecoin is up 21.2% to $73.78, bringing the altcoin back to its highest level since mid-January. Trading volume has more than doubled over the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinglass, with over $2B traded in that time period. Litecoin is one of the oldest altcoins that still has an active blockchain, and enacted privacy features in 2022 similar to other privacy coins like Zcash, which has had a strong year gaining 193% year-to-date. Litecoin remains down 3% year-to-date. Bitcoin is up 0.1% to $84,307, ethereum rises 0.4% to $2,682, and XRP is up 2.4% to $1.52. ([email protected])1140 ET - Could the latest U.S. tariffs end up lowering construction costs in Canada? Canada's national housing agency says that while counterintuitive its analysis finds that tariffs may make more Canadian wood products available for domestic use, helping reduce construction costs for certain types of housing. Even as tariffs continue to weigh on the broader economy, more consistent use of Canadian wood products in domestic construction could boost housing starts by about 3.5%, resulting in nearly 4,000 additional homes a year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says. Detached homes and townhouses would benefit most, and construction costs for "ground-oriented" homes could fall by as much as 17% in some city centers, it suggests. ([email protected]; @RobbMStewart)1107 ET - Yields on global corporate bonds have been driven higher by rising sovereign bonds, which makes the assets attractive, Societe Generale's Juan Valencia says in a note. Companies still maintain healthy financial positions and demand for corporate bonds remains strong, Valencia says. These factors are likely to continue supporting corporate bonds' performance for the remainder of 2026, he says. ([email protected])1045 ET - Bitcoin is up 0.7%, managing to mitigate pressure coming from higher Treasury yields. After posting a big surge earlier this week, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general got squeezed due largely to the stronger U.S. dollar and those higher yields. "With global bond yields at elevated levels, non-yielding assets like bitcoin remain under increased pressure," says Inki Cho of Exness in a note. "Looking ahead, the outlook increasingly hinges on whether bond markets find some relief." Calming of the fighting in the Middle East may be a key step in providing that relief, Cho says. Ethereum is up 0.8%, XRP climbs 2.8%, and solana is up 2%. ([email protected])1036 ET - Scotiabank's Anthony Bambokian wonders whether there will be an expectation that Prime Minister Mark Carney's government will double down on more restrictive immigration policies after historic revisions to quarterly population estimates pushed total levels higher than previously thought. The economic analyst says that as fall approaches so too does Ottawa's new Immigration Levels Plan outlining the government's permanent and temporary resident admission targets for the following three years. If there are changes to immigration targets, Bambokian says the assumption is the focus would be on ensuring levels are calibrated to Carney's "build agenda" for the country rather than any dogmatic approach to caps and targets. ([email protected]; @RobbMStewart)1018 ET - Recent Mexican inflation readings show some moderation in upward pressure but aren't comfortable enough, "in particular core and services," for the central bank to consider additional interest-rate cuts, Goldman Sachs's chief Latin America economist Alberto Ramos says in a note. That is even more the case "when taking into consideration recent firmer domestic activity prints, higher oil prices and dollar yields, and the FOMC Fed Funds hike which further narrowed the already thin Mexico-U.S. rate differential," he adds. Inflation in Mexico was 3.42% in mid-September, with core CPI at 3.79%. In its interest-rate decision at 3 p.m. ET, the Bank of Mexico is expected to stay on hold for a third straight time. ([email protected])1015 ET - There weren't many positives in Canadian retail sales data for July, with sales down 0.7% on-month and an even weaker 1.1% in volume terms, CIBC Capital Markets Katherine Judge notes. However, the advance estimate for August looks better, with sales up an estimated 1.3%. Judge doesn't expect the momentum to last as lingering trade uncertainty and a related deterioration in the labor market will weigh on discretionary spending ahead. And that means that the Bank of Canada won't be raising interest rates in the near term, the economist says.([email protected]; @RobbMStewart)1009 ET - This summer's heatwaves are expected to have cost the European economy 113 billion euros, or around $128 billion, according to a report by German insurer Allianz. That notches up a substantial economic burden from one hazard alone, corresponding to around 0.5% of combined projected GDP across 30 countries, and roughly 60% of the global extreme-weather losses recorded in 2025, the report says. Italy felt the biggest brunt of the hot weather, with losses of 27.8 billion euros, followed by Germany's 25.0 billion euros and France's 20.1 billion euros. The impact of humidity is even more significant, the report notes. "Italy's more humid heat episode is associated with a larger estimated growth loss than Hungary's hotter but drier conditions." ([email protected])1002 ET - Worsening sentiment in fixed income leaves the currency market vulnerable to an unwinding of carry trades, MUFG Bank's Derek Halpenny says as yields in Treasurys and German Bunds hit multiyear highs. Carry trades, where investors borrow in low-yielding currencies to buy higher-yielding currencies, have performed well in a low foreign-exchange volatility environment, he says in a note. "Periods of low FX volatility always end with a bang and current market conditions are certainly consistent with an increased risk of that scenario materializing." High-yielding emerging-market currencies would suffer most while the Japanese yen and Swiss franc would outperform, he says. ([email protected])