Bitcoin Tumbles on Stronger Jobs Report, Hike Odds Rebuild
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted to $79,661 on Friday after a US jobs report showed stronger-than-expected growth, increasing the likelihood of another Federal Reserve rate hike this month.
Before the August payrolls release, BTC was trading at $81,340. However, it dropped by 1.8% in just five minutes to reach its lowest point.
The jobs report showed that nonfarm payroll employment increased by 162,000 in August, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%. The average hourly earnings rose 0.3% during August to $37.75 and were 3.1% higher than a year earlier.
As a result of the stronger-than-expected jobs report, interest-rate pricing reacted with BTC, pushing the probability of a 25-basis-point increase at the September 16 meeting from 49.4% to 58.2%. Later Friday, short-term interest-rate futures were implying roughly a 65% probability of a September hike.
The next major test for Bitcoin comes on September 11 with August CPI, five days before the Fed decision.