BlocksInform
Bitcoin price continues to be heavily influenced by macro conditions within us. After BTC hit a new five-month high of $24,241 last Wednesday, price is still declining. Over the weekend, Bitcoin lost another 3 percent and was at $22,810 at the time of the press.
Initially, the price was propelled higher last week by the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and dovish comments from Jerome Powell, before a major damper came on Friday.
By the latest figures from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, The U.S. economy experienced sensational growth of 517,000 new jobs last month, indicating that the Fed is likely to keep interest rates high longer. The Dollar Index (dxy) subsequently rebounded sharply from less than 101 to 103, resulting in a decrease in the TCO.
A week to come for Bitcoin. And Crypto
After many important economic figures last week, crypto investors can expect a rather uneventful trading week. The biggest event could happen tomorrow, Tuesday, when President Powell is on camera.
Investors will listen to whether Powell will back up the Federal Reserve’s hawkish monetary policy with new statements after the strong US labor market data or repeat his dovish statements from the FOMC press conference.
However, the latter seems rather unlikely, since the labour market, which is still resilient, will undoubtedly widen the Federal Reserve's future scope for monetary policy.
It can be assumed that the determining factor will again be the January Consumer Price Index (CPI), to be released on February 14th. It remains to be seen whether Powell will be inclined to comment again tomorrow.
Within the last half of the week, the focus is on Thursday and announcing the latest figures on the initial applications for employment benefits in the United States. The release will take place at 8:30 a.m.
In addition to the labour market report released on Friday, initial applications for employment benefits are considered the second most relevant measure to assess the United States labour market.
In January, the number of new claims reported was consistently lower than anticipated, in line with the labour market data presented last Friday. If this trend continues, the fed may have an additional argument for "higher and longer," which would be bearish for bitcoin.
If the estimate is exceeded, and more citizens in the U.S. apply for unemployment claims, Friday’s report could be put into perspective and crypto market sentiment could swing back to bullish thanks to a further falling DXY.
Finally, Friday (at 10 am east) will see the release of consumer expectations and we will trust consumers through the University of Michigan. On January 13, consumer confidence in the United States continued to rise, contrary to expert expectations, to 62.0, well above the 59.5 forecast.
If this is confirmed and the definitive numbers on consumer expectations are also positive, it would probably also be positive for crypto and bitcoin.
At the time of the press, BTC could bounce on the rack for $22,650. This level is going to be critically important this week.
