Bitcoin and ether rose on Friday after a July jobs report showed the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs instead of adding the expected 80,000, pushing the unemployment rate down to 4.1%. The miss cut prediction-market odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike this year, while bitcoin extended a rebound from earlier-week losses tied to hike fears.
Bitcoin climbed on Friday after a July jobs report showed the U.S. economy lost jobs instead of adding them, a miss large enough to cut bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this year. Ether rose as well, responding to the same report.
Payrolls fall well short of forecasts
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, well below the 80,000 jobs economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%. CoinGape called it the third-largest monthly job loss since 2020, and said June's initial gain of 57,000 jobs was revised down by 37,000.
Bitcoin and ether extend Friday's gains
Bitcoin opened at $64,259.68 on Friday, 0.5% lower than Thursday's open, before climbing to $65,143.87 by 9:02 a.m. ET as the jobs data spread through markets. Ether opened at $1,902.20, down 0.2% from Thursday's open, and rose to $1,929.36 in the same window.
By early afternoon, bitcoin traded at $64,820.72, up 0.17% on the day, while ether held at $1,913.50, up 0.01%. CoinGape separately put bitcoin near $65,200, up almost 2%, after the token had fallen earlier in the week on fears of a September rate increase.
Bitcoin's opening price is down 0.7% versus a week ago but up 0.4% over the past month, though it remains 44.1% below where it stood a year ago. Ether's opening price is down 0.8% over the week but up 5.8% over the month, and off 48.4% from a year ago.
Rate-hike odds slide on Polymarket
The soft jobs data also shifted rate-hike expectations. Polymarket now shows a 56% chance the Fed raises rates this year, down from a recent high of 77%. Odds that the Fed holds rates steady at the September FOMC meeting have risen too, with prediction-market data showing a 66% chance of no change, up from about 50% a day earlier.
CoinGape reported that Fed president Neel Kashkari has called for higher rates to fight inflation, though the jobs report leaves policymakers weighing labor-market weakness against price pressures. CPI and PPI data arrive next week and could sway the September call, with price growth still trending above the Fed's 2% target as the U.S.-Iran war pushes energy costs higher.
Sources: Yahoo Finance, CoinGape
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