Federal Reserve maintained rates<\/a> within a target range of 3.50%\u20133.75% by a 9\u20133 vote. Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie Logan dissented because they preferred a 25-basis-point increase.<\/p>\nMinneapolis Fed President Kashkari has since argued that the central bank should begin raising rates as elevated inflation and the U.S.-Iran conflict complicate the policy outlook. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has restricted a route that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n
Kashkari said uncertainty around the conflict made it difficult for the Fed to promise rate cuts or provide firm guidance. During an earlier CBS interview, he said policymakers \u201cmight have to go the other direction\u201d if the war and resulting energy shock kept inflation elevated.<\/p>\n
The Minneapolis Fed president also warned that there was no assurance that shipping through Hormuz would return to normal quickly. Higher oil costs can reach American households through gasoline prices, while businesses may face increased transport and production expenses.<\/p>\n
St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem has also backed tighter policy, arguing that an early and gradual response would be less disruptive than waiting until inflation becomes more firmly established. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly supported the July decision to leave rates unchanged, saying the central bank needed more evidence to determine whether the energy-driven increase would prove temporary or persistent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Goolsbee\u2019s comments place him closer to the Fed\u2019s inflation-focused camp without confirming how he would approach the next policy decision. His description of employment as stable separates current conditions from a severe labor downturn, even though the latest payroll figures showed a notable loss of momentum.<\/p>\n
Weak jobs data has reduced September hike expectations<\/h2>\n
The U.S. economy lost 23,000 nonfarm payroll positions in July, while the unemployment rate remained near 4.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. May and June payroll estimates were also reduced by a combined 103,000 jobs, while average hourly earnings increased 3.2% from a year earlier.<\/p>\n
As crypto.news reported in its July payroll coverage, Bitcoin initially gained almost 2% and traded near $65,200 after the report reduced expectations of an immediate rate increase. Prediction-market traders raised the probability that the Fed would leave rates unchanged in September to 66%, up from about 50% one day earlier.<\/p>\n
Expectations have continued to vary across contracts. The supplied prediction-market data placed the probability of no September change at 59%, while a separate contract gave a rate increase before the end of 2026 the same probability. Since the contracts cover different time periods, the figures do not represent conflicting outcomes for the same FOMC meeting.<\/p>\n
Iggy Ioppe, chief investment officer at Theo, previously told crypto.news that one weak employment report would not necessarily overcome the inflation concerns created by energy prices and shipping disruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cA softer jobs number does not automatically close that gap,\u201d Ioppe said. \u201cRisk assets, including Bitcoin, retain the medium-term support that comes from continued inaction, but the same geopolitical energy risk that is keeping the Fed cautious also continues to limit upside.\u201d<\/p>\n
For U.S. crypto investors, the rate decision can affect Treasury yields, the dollar and demand for assets that do not pay interest. Higher rates raise the returns available from lower-risk government debt, while tighter financial conditions can reduce the amount of capital investors allocate to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n
July CPI has become the next test for Bitcoin<\/h2>\n
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release July CPI at 8:30 a.m. ET on Aug. 12. Economists surveyed by Reuters expect headline inflation to slow from 3.5% to 3.4% annually, with core inflation easing from 2.6% to 2.5%.<\/p>\n
A recent CPI preview reported that expectations for a September rate increase had fallen to 44% from 67% one week earlier after the weak payroll numbers. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was trading near 4.66%, while Bitcoin had briefly moved above $65,000 before failing to establish the level as support.<\/p>\n
Selling returned on Aug. 11 as crude oil rose and negotiations over Hormuz lost momentum. Bitcoin dropped about 2% to $63,780 before attempting an intraday recovery, while Ether and XRP also came under pressure. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $144.6 million in net withdrawals on Aug. 10, ending five consecutive sessions of inflows, according to SoSoValue data cited in Bitcoin\u2019s latest decline.<\/p>\n
Iranian official Mohsen Rezaei said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the United States met Tehran\u2019s conditions, which included ending the war and unfreezing Iranian assets held abroad. His statement followed comments from Pakistan\u2019s defense minister that Washington and Tehran were close to an arrangement despite fresh attacks on maritime traffic.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee has identified inflation above the Federal Reserve\u2019s 2% target as the main U.S. economic problem while officials debate whether to raise rates from 3.50%\u20133.75%. Summary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37021,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37019\/revisions\/37021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}