Latest US jobs reading has little effect on choppy Bitcoin market – DiarioBitcoin
By Hannah Perez
The US added more than 200,000 jobs in June, but wage growth is the slowest since 2021. Bitcoin rose slightly amid a sharp correction and expectations of a rate cut by the FED.
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- The United States added 206,000 jobs in June, above expectations
- The pace of wage growth is the slowest since 2021
- The reading could motivate the FED to announce an upcoming and expected interest rate cut
- Bitcoin, which dipped below $54,000 earlier, rose slightly following the report
The U.S. labor market showed some signs of slowing in June, with the addition of 206,000 jobs in the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
While the reading remained below May’s revised 218,000, it beat economists’ estimates of 190,000 jobs for the month, according to the reports. The unemployment rate in June rose to 4.1% versus 4.0% in May and forecasts for 4.0%. This marked the highest level for that reading since November 2021.
Meanwhile, wage growth in the U.S. also showed signs of slowing. American workers made $35 an hour, on average, in June, up 10 cents from May, marking the slowest level of wage growth since 2021, the report said. CNN.
From a year earlier, average hourly earnings for American workers rose 3.9% in June, below the 4.1% annual rate in May and well below the 4.7% in the same month last year.
Bitcoin rose modestly amid strong correction
The already hectic market of Bitcoin (BTC) was largely unreacting to the US jobs report. The top cryptocurrency by market cap dipped below $54,000 in the morning, hitting its lowest price since February, amid a 10% decline on the week and before rising modestly above $55,000.
BTC has shown a slight gain since the release of the jobs report, rising 0.41% in the past hour to trade around $55,800. at the time of editing, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The rest of the cryptocurrency market, which has also faced strong bearish winds this week, reacted similarly, with several major altcoins posting slight gains of less than 1% over the past 60 minutes. The global crypto market cap stands at $2.04 trillion, down 3.4% on the day.
Cryptocurrency market traders have been closely following economic data in the United States, looking for signs that anticipate what the Federal Reserve’s (FED) next step in monetary policy might be.
Before this morning’s data, traders were putting almost zero chance on an interest rate cut by central bank officials for the July 31 meeting, the central bank noted. CoinDesk citing data from the tool CME FedWatchInstead, most expect the Fed to announce a first, long-awaited rate cut in September.
Earlier this week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell weighed in on the issue, arguing that more work is still needed to tame inflation and suggesting that a weaker labor market could outweigh inflation concerns.
Labor data and its effect on the crypto market
Slowing wages could help set the stage for the U.S. central bank to begin cutting interest rates, as noted by CNNwhich in turn could favor cryptocurrency prices.
In this regard, analysts commented to Decrypt who believed the latest jobs readings would have little effect on the cryptocurrency market, although they were more inclined to a positive reaction in the event of a slowdown in job growth.
He added that this could also benefit exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of Bitcoin in cash, which have recently seen exits, in case the participants “believe that economic uncertainty will lead the FED towards eventual rate cuts, boosting Bitcoin’s appeal as an inflation hedge“.
Beyond the economic uncertainty in the US, other factors such as the distribution of refunds from the defunct exchange Mt. Gox and the alleged sales of whales Bitcoin of the German government, have also been putting downward pressure on the market.
Article by Hannah Estefanía Pérez / Bitcoin Diary
Image created with AI tool, under free use license
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