A very rough week in the crypto markets looks set to end on a slightly positive note.
About an hour before the close of US stock trading on Friday, the rate of bitcoin has managed to crawl back above $103,000 – up about 2% over the past 24 hours – after falling back to the $99,000 area earlier in the session.
That’s some comfort to the bulls after bitcoin fell from over $110,000 at one point on Sunday to below $99,000 about 48 hours later.
The rejections in some altcoins were even bigger on Friday with ether , and solana ahead of 4%-5%, and and an increase of 12% and 9% respectively.
So far, the higher moves have all the signs of a modest chart-wide rally after dramatic dips across the sector for most of the week.
On closer inspection, however, the bulls will find some green shoots in the latest economic data. Not usually a massively followed report, but amid the government shutdown — and the lack of official statistics — the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey released Friday morning took on a bit more significance.
Down to 50.3 in November from 53.6 a month earlier, the gauge fell to levels seen during the Covid panic, the global financial crisis and the recessions of 1990 and 1981.
At the same time, inflation expectations over the coming 5-10 year period eased slightly, but remained encouraging at 3.6%.
“Consumers perceive pressure on their personal finances from multiple directions,” said survey director Joanne Hsu. “Consumers also anticipate that labor markets will continue to weaken in the future and expect to be personally affected.”
The news suggests the U.S. central bank — which sent markets reeling with its surprise hawkish tilt last week — may have to reconsider what appeared to be growing momentum at the central bank not to cut interest rates again at its final meeting of the year in December.
Congress is also reading the papers, and the sharp unexpected drop in consumer sentiment is sure not to go unnoticed on Capital Hill, possibly pushing officials on both sides of the aisle toward a deal to reopen the government.
Read more: Fed turns hawkish as this US employment indicator flashes red
