Bitcoin defies drop below $70,000 as oil turns into a central-bank problem

The Fed kept rates unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% on Mar. 18, lifted its 2026 inflation projections to 2.7% for both headline and core PCE, and held to a median year-end fed-funds path of 3.4%. Chair Jerome Powell said higher energy prices will push up overall inflation in the near term and that the implications of events in the Middle East are uncertain. One day later, the ECB held its deposit rate at 2.00% but revised it…