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A Federal Reserve Bank of New York official who manages the implementation of monetary policy indicated Wednesday the central bank has room to further shrink its balance sheet, while noting government financial management issues will create challenges for the process over the short run. Market indicators “are telling us that reserve conditions are currently abundant, as they have been for quite some time,” said Roberto Perli, who manages the Fed’s System Open Market Account, its portfolio of bonds, cash and other assets, which currently stand at $6.8 trillion. Perli’s comments suggest that all else being equal, there’s no imminent need to end the contraction of Fed holdings known as quantitative tightening, or QT.

US stocks rose on hopes that President Donald Trump's latest tariffs would be short-lived, while Asian and European markets made gains.

El Salvador announced on Wednesday the purchase of a bitcoin, which takes the total in the country's strategic reserve to above 6,102 coins, the National Bitcoin Office posted on social media. The bitcoin purchase announcement comes days after the International Monetary Fund board approved a 40-month program with El Salvador for $1.4 billion that implied a downgrade of the cryptocurrency's status in the Central American country. Bitcoin cannot be used to pay taxes and its acceptance by the public is voluntary, which is not what was expected when it was given a legal tender status back in 2021.

A weekly look at the most important news and moves in crypto, and what’s on the horizon in digital assets.

The communications startup is coordinating a global network of fiber optic cables.

The bank said current conditions will “drive Bitcoin to $500,000 before Trump leaves office.”

The agreement will give a BlackRock consortium a majority stake in two terminal ports. Trump has said he wants the trade route under US control.