FX.co ★ What will determine the direction of financial markets?

The events that already happened this year will certainly determine the direction and strength of the financial markets throughout the year.

The world experienced a similar banking crisis in 2008.

In just 10 short days of this year, people have witnessed the collapse of several U.S. banks, including New York-based Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Silverton. In addition, at the FOMC press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell named about six banks that might need help to stay solvent.

For 10 days, America's largest banks have invested their funds to rescue from the economic disaster in the banking system. However, it is not yet known whether the actions taken by government agencies and private sector banks will be sufficiently effective.

Parallel to these events, the world watched as Switzerland's second largest bank, Credit Suisse, collapsed and was acquired by UBS.

Last week, the Federal Reserve ended the March FOMC meeting and, as expected, raised interest rates by a quarter point. Unexpectedly, the Fed had set a schedule for aggressive rate hikes ahead of time. According to Powell, most likely, they will raise the interest rate by a quarter point again in May, which will continue until the end of this year. The fact that rates are not going to be reduced, Powell convincingly said that this is not part of their plans.

Together, global bank failures and changes in the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve System were the determining factors that raised the price of precious metals as a safe haven asset.