US Stock Futures Dive Further

On March 2, Middle East tensions pushed oil prices higher and stoked inflation fears, prompting currency markets in the U.S., U.K. and Eurozone to scale back bets on interest rate cuts. Per swaps linked to policy meeting dates: - The Federal Reserve’s likelihood of cutting rates three times in 2026 fell from nearly 50% last week to 20%. - Traders no longer expect the Bank of England to deliver three rate cuts this year; the probability of a March cut dropped from over 80% to 60%. - Odds of the European Central Bank cutting rates this year were halved, with markets pricing in just 5 basis points of easing.

March 2nd: Amid geopolitical turmoil, European stocks opened sharply lower and traded poorly midday, while U.S. stock pre-market sessions saw declines across the three major indexes. Mainstream centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchange funding rates now signal a market-wide shift back to bearish sentiment—after a rebound to neutral on Sunday. Specific funding rates for key cryptocurrencies are in the attached chart. **BlockBeats Note:** Funding rates are fees set by crypto exchanges to align perpetual contract prices with underlying asset prices. They facilitate fund transfers between long and short traders (exchanges do not collect these fees) and adjust traders’ holding costs or profits to keep contract prices close to the underlying asset’s value. **Funding Rate Guidelines:** - 0.01% = baseline rate - Above 0.01% = broad bullish sentiment - Below 0.005% = broad bearish sentiment

On March 2nd, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated that Iran’s nuclear facilities were largely unaffected by the attack, with no signs indicating the sites were targeted. (Golden Ten)

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on March 2 that three U.S. F-15E fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defense forces amid intense combat, resulting in the loss of all three aircraft.

March 2nd — Per Onchain Lens monitoring, BlackRock has transferred 1,134 BTC to Coinbase in the past 15 minutes, valued at roughly $74.95 million. The firm may continue making additional deposits.

March 2 — Per official sources, Binance will launch BNB/USD, ETH/USD and SOL/USD spot trading pairs on March 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM Beijing Time.