Weak Jobs Report Boosts Risk Assets, Bitcoin Price Remains Stable

The US labor market showed weakness for the second consecutive month in July, with a loss of 23,000 jobs. This was far below the consensus expectation of a gain of 80,000 jobs and down from June's addition of 20,000 (revised down from an originally reported 57,000). The last negative jobs print was in February.

Despite the weak jobs report, risk assets are trading higher on Friday. The S&P 500 is up 0.55%, while the Nasdaq 100 has gained almost 1%. Bitcoin is up more than 1% and is trading above $65,000. Precious metals such as gold and silver are also rallying, with prices rising over 2.5% and 3.5% respectively.

According to James Thorne, chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus, the muted price action of Bitcoin is not a rejection of the debasement argument, but rather evidence that markets are discounting political risk more heavily than monetary risk.