Bitcoin, ether remain subdued as markets process underwhelming US economic data

Bitcoin and ether remain under key price levels after sliding down over the weekend following Friday's bearish U.S. economic data.

The largest cryptocurrency trades at $54,744 when writing, gaining 0.64% in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) added 0.17% to change hands at around $2,291, according to The Block’s crypto price page. 

Friday saw the announcement of the latest U.S. non-farm payroll (NFP) data, a vital indicator of the country’s employment, inflation and overall economic health. The U.S. NFP rose by 142,000 in August, lower than the market expectation of 160,000. 

“Crypto would need a near-perfect mix of NFP outcomes to see higher prices,” said Augustine Fan, Head of Insights at SOFA.org. “Instead, we received one of the worst-case outcomes as the repricing of risk sentiment dragged BTC and ETH down.”

Fan said recent data indicates that U.S. private sector growth is heading to its “weakest growth in over a decade” and that the economic recession looks much more imminent than thought. 

Bitcoin fell to lows of around $52,850 on the day the economic data were announced; ether briefly plummeted to around $2,160 on Friday. 

However, the U.S. unemployment rate released on the same day sent positive signals, dropping to 4.2%. “The lower unemployment figure has lessened the concerns of imminent recession,” said Lucy Hu, Metalpha’s senior analyst. “However, it seems the lower-than-expected payroll data is dominating the market sentiment at the moment.” 

More to come this week

Metapha’s Hu said the crypto market, which reacted more strongly to the numbers than equities, will continue to show significant volatility until the next Fed meeting. The next Federal Open Market Committee meeting will be held on Sept. 17 to 18.

“The coming week might see more risk reduction with a lack of positive catalysts on the horizon,” SOFA.org’s Fan said. “The focus will be on the U.S. Presidential Debate on Tuesday, along with a busy week of inflation data and central bank speeches across the globe.”

U.S. Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are expected to hold their first televised debate. According to reports, the latest polls show the two at neck-and-neck. Cryptocurrency has been one of the major topics in the upcoming November election, although it was not mentioned in the previous debate between Trump and current U.S. President Joe Biden.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data will arrive on Wednesday and Thursday.