Bitcoin slips towards $40K as inflation fears loom

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) slid to as low as under $39.85K Tuesday morning as investors weigh March's stronger than expected consumer price inflation print, which added more fuel to expectations that the Federal Reserve will be even more aggressive with its interest rate hike path. The largest digital coin by market cap, bitcoin (BTC-USD -0.7%), has since gained a bit to $40.23K in midday trading. For some technical context, BTC is falling towards ascending support of a so-called "bearish flag" pattern, which is sitting at ~$36.7K, Bloomberg reported, adding that if it breaks below the lower end of that flag, the next level of support is $26K. On the other hand, ethereum (ETH-USD +1.6%) is rising to $3.05K in the past 24 hours after it launched its first mainnet shadow fork on Monday. While cryptocurrencies are trading broadly lower, investors' risk appetite for U.S. stocks appear to be widening, with all three major equity