Bitcoin rests at $28,000 as US jobs data boosts fresh bets on Fed rate hikes
Bitcoin (BTC) showed little interest in moving higher at the Wall Street open on April 7, as fresh macro data from the US increased bets on further interest rate hikes.
Analyst: Fed Will Keep Going ‘Until Something Breaks’
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked BTC/USD as it hovered around $27,900 on Bitstamp.
US non-farm payrolls, the week’s main macro data focus, came in slightly below expectations, suggesting unemployment is rising more slowly than forecast.
This in turn raised market expectations that the Federal Reserve would continue to raise interest rates to fight inflation – at the expense of crypto and risk asset performance.
Odds for another 25 basis point rate hike in May topped 70% on the day, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, after hovering around 50% earlier.
“Another strong jobs report. Likely fueling speculation of a 25bps hike in May…”, analytical resource Tedtalksmacro reacted on Twitter.
Caleb Franzen, senior market analyst at Cubic Analytics, concluded that this and other recent employment data showed that there were “no big gaps in the labor market data (yet).”
“They’re going to keep going until something breaks,” he continued on Fed policy in part of the Twitter follow-up analysis.
“So far the banks are freezing and intervention has worked. Depositors are not worried. The labor market is still too resilient and inflation is too high, although slowing. Disinflation is in full swing, but the Fed is bound by their own handcuffs.”
Related: Crypto winter can take a toll on hodlers’ mental health
Right before the report, monitoring of resource material indicators uploaded order book data from Binance, which showed strengthening liquidity closer to spot price.
This, as Cointelegraph reported the day before, was apt to further “subdue” volatility.
The dollar bounces with stocks
Elsewhere, US stocks traded higher on the day, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index rising 0.4% and 0.8% respectively at the open.
Related: Bitcoin ‘Faces Headwinds’ as US Money Supply Shrinks Most Since 1950s
The US dollar, meanwhile, managed an uncharacteristic copycat bounce, clawing its way back above the 102 mark to hit multi-day highs.
“$USD strength still showing healthy higher-high after NFP report,” analyst James Stanley wrote in part of a Twitter reply.
“$DXY reacts with strength to data that is not necessarily so strong.”
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
