Crypto captured a modest bid on Thursday after Wednesday’s inflation report showed that underlying price pressures were contained. Bitcoin rose about 1.9% in 24 hours to around $62,600, leading to the big one, per CoinDesk data.
Headline inflation rose 0.5% on the month and 4.2% on the year, the fastest annual pace since April 2023, but energy did most of the work, rising 3.9% on the month and accounting for more than 60% of the increase as oil rose on the Iran conflict.
Core inflation, which strips out food and energy and is the gauge the Federal Reserve leans on, rose just 0.2% on the month, below the 0.3% forecast and 2.9% for the year.
The rejection is shallow and concentrated in bitcoin. BTC is down less than 1% over the past seven days, holding its 200-week moving average, while the rest of the top tokens remain deep in the red on the week. Ether is down about 6.5% to around $1,651, XRP is down 7.5% near $1.12, Solana is down 7.4% around $65, and dogecoin is 7.5% lower. BNB held up better with a weekly loss of 2.1%.
Traders are now awaiting the Fed’s June 17 meeting, where markets expect no change in interest rates. The hot headline gives hawks cover to remain restrictive, while the soft core gives doves room to argue that pressure is narrow and energy-driven.
Another commonly cited catalyst is the public offering of Elon Musk-owned satellite, rocket and AI company SpaceX, which prices later Thursday and is expected to begin trading on Friday at a valuation of $1.8 trillion.
Shares of the company are already four times oversubscribed, with some unique entities bidding as much as $10 billion for the stock, according to Bloomberg.
