US Jobs Report Shocks Markets, Crushes BTC and Gold Bets

The US jobs report for August came in significantly higher than expected, crushing forecasts and sending shockwaves through financial markets. The report showed that the US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, more than triple the consensus of 56,000.

This unexpected surge in job growth has revived bets on a September Federal Reserve rate hike, which is bad news for assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and gold that had been rallying on expectations of a hold. The two assets plummeted within minutes of the report's release, with Bitcoin falling to $79,661 from $81,340 and gold dropping to $4,376 an ounce from $4,473.

The strong jobs numbers and upward revisions to previous months' data have handed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh a tight labor market argument for a rate hike. This shift in logic has led to a halving of Fed hike odds from 66% at the end of August to around half that amount, according to some estimates.