Bitcoin steadies near $82,000 as Fed's Warsh skips rate-hike talk
In brief
- Bitcoin traded near $82,000 at Friday's Wall Street open, per TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph.
- BTC/USD held most of its reclaimed ground after bouncing at $80,000 on Thursday.
- KOSPI closed at 5,668 Friday, up 2% on the day but down 8.3% for the week.
- CME FedWatch put October rate-hike odds at 15%, down from 27% a day earlier.
Bitcoin holds the $80,000 bounce
BTC/USD didn't give back much on Friday. It held most of its reclaimed ground after bouncing at $80,000 on Thursday, TradingView data showed.
The earlier decline followed a weeklong sell-off in South Korean tech stocks. Friday's Asian session brought some relief (the KOSPI Composite Index closed at 5,668, up 2% on the day but still down 8.3% for the week, per TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph).
US stocks were mixed. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.5% while the S&P 500 rose 0.5%.
Warsh doesn't tip his hand
Warsh didn't mention further rate hikes during a discussion with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Cointelegraph reported. He said he wouldn't commit in advance to anything at the Fed's remaining meetings this year.
"I don’t prejudge meetings. I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings that we have in the balance of this year"
Markets appeared to read his tone as a dovish signal on hikes. CME Group's FedWatch Tool showed the probability of a 25-basis-point hike in October fell to 15%, down from 27% the previous day.
That's a 12-point drop in a single session.
Economist Robin Brooks suggested that stress in the AI sector (a key driver of the Korea sell-off) could explain the Fed chair's more aloof approach. In a blog post, Brooks wrote that Warsh gave no indication the Fed was in any hurry to hike, and he said that leaves an October hike pretty much off the table.
Yields climb as stocks steady
US bond yields began rising as stocks steadied. The 10-year yield stood at 5.07% on Friday after briefly reaching 5.13%, according to TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph.
Market commentator The Kobeissi Letter noted that stock weakness has been the sole source of bond-yield corrections since August. It argued that stocks would be far higher without the US-Iran war, and said persistent inflation was driving investor demand for asset exposure even as the Fed began a new rate-hike cycle.
For crypto, it's the same macro tape. Bitcoin's stabilization on Friday tracked the rebound in Korean equities and the shift in hike expectations, and traders now have Warsh's own words that he isn't signaling his next move ahead of time.
