Bitcoin is back above $17,000—rising with U.S. stocks as traders responded to a Labor Department report showing a rise in jobless claims, a possible sign that federal interest rate hikes could slow down.
The price for the biggest digital asset according to market cap was $17183 at the time that this article was written. That’s a 2.1% increase in 24 hours.
Ethereum, the second most popular cryptocurrency, did even better. It traded for $1,278 at 3.7%, up from the previous day.
The vast majority (or most) of the largest digital assets rose in the last day closely following U.S. equities. Wall Street traders were happy to see data that showed Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased last week, and unemployment rolls reached a 10-month high at month’s end.
According to economists, low unemployment could lead to people spending more and prices rising. With unemployment rising, prices are less likely to go up—in short, inflation will be coming down.
The S&P 500 was up 0.75% to finish at 3,963.51—ending its biggest losing streak since October—while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 183.56 points, or 0.55%, to finish at 33,781.48. The Nasdaq composite jumped 1.13% and ended at 11,082.00.
Digital assets in 2018 have done the same thing as the U.S. Stock Market: When the Fed raises interest rate to keep inflation under control, investors get rid of risk assets like equities.
Today’s news was a small sign that policymakers may be getting inflation under control.
However, the wider crypto market is still in decline: Bitcoin traded for more than $50,000 per coin last year; Ethereum was valued at $4,431.