U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise to 208K, Bitcoin Drops

The weekly initial jobless claims have again come in below expectations, hinting at a potential rebound in the labor market. This weakens the case for further rate cuts ahead of the January FOMC meeting, while Bitcoin dropped following the data release.

Initial Jobless Claims Come In At 208,000, BTC Drops

Department of Labor data show that initial claims were 208,000 for the week ending January 3, up from the previous week’s revised level of 200,000. However, the data was also below the estimates of 212,000, hinting at a rebound in the labor market.

CoinGape reported last week that the initial jobless claims rose to 199,000 in the week ending December 27, way below expectations of 219,000. Meanwhile, the revised level was also below expectations, having increased by just 1,000.

Notably, Bitcoin dropped below $90,000 following the data release and is trading at around $89,800 at press time. BTC is down over 2% on the day, falling from an intraday high above $91,000.

The BTC price fell below $90,000 earlier in the day as Bitcoin ETFs recorded $480 million in outflows. However, it rebounded above this psychological level before the release of the initial jobless claims report. The data release is bearish for the flagship crypto and broader crypto market, as it hints at a rebound in the labor market, which slows the need for another rate cut.

The Fed had made three rate cuts last year, due to concerns over the labor market weakness. Those rate cuts had notably contributed to new highs for Bitcoin, which rose to as high as $126,000 last year.

Meanwhile, the macro data comes at a time when crypto traders are already betting against the Fed cutting rates at the January FOMC meeting. Polymarket data shows a 93% chance that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged at the January meeting.