Markets delivered a paradox this week: macro conditions are improving, yet risk assets continue to fracture.

This week’s report breaks down the disconnect with 14 detailed charts covering CPI expectations, AI-driven equity volatility, collapsing crypto prices, ETF flow dynamics, and evolving liquidation clusters.

The crypto section dissects Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, delivering long and short trading setups with precise entry points, targets, and invalidation zones to help you navigate this market environment with confidence.

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All eyes today are on the delayed January CPI report, with analysts forecasting core inflation to tick down to 2.5% year-over-year, the closest the Fed has gotten to its 2% target since the post-pandemic surge above 6% in 2022. If confirmed, it keeps alive the prospect of one or two rate cuts in the second half of the year, though the Fed is almost certain to hold in March regardless. The "Goldilocks" framing is earning its name.

That constructive macro backdrop is playing out against a fragile equity picture. The S&P 500 erased an early jobs-data-fueled rally to finish Wednesday flat, then fell another 1.6% Thursday, its worst day since Thanksgiving, as AI disruption fears swept through tech and punished companies seen as vulnerable to displacement. The index is holding around 6,800, but the AI narrative has introduced a source of volatility that strong macro data alone cannot easily offset.

Nowhere has the risk-off mood cut deeper than in crypto. Coinbase hit a year low around $140 after reporting a $667 million fourth-quarter net loss, a stunning reversal from a $1.3 billion profit in the same period a year ago, as falling digital asset prices crushed trading volumes. Bitcoin has shed over 50% from its October peak, and Standard Chartered has slashed its year-end target to $100,000, warning of a potential drop to $50,000 before any floor is found.

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Rounding out the picture, Japan's bond market has quietly recovered from January's dramatic blowup, when the 40-year JGB yield spiked above 4% in its largest move since 1999. Fiscal stimulus fears around then-opposition leader Takaichi were the trigger, but her subsequent election win and reassurances on fiscal discipline have pulled yields back to pre-crisis levels. The episode is worth remembering: Japan's ultra-low yields have long funded leveraged bets on higher-returning foreign assets, and any sustained rise carries contagion risk well beyond Tokyo.

The macro narrative is improving, but today's snapshot is a reminder that it competes with AI-driven equity volatility, a crypto market in deep correction, and a Japan that can still generate global turbulence. A soft CPI print would be a genuine positive, the question is whether markets have the patience to let it matter.

Bitcoin trended lower throughout the week, forming lower highs and lower lows after facing rejection at the key $72,000 technical level on Monday. From there, price accelerated toward the next major support at $65,500, which was tested on Thursday and has held so far. BTC is currently trading around $66,900, remaining within a higher-timeframe downtrend.