Soft U.S. July jobs numbers released Friday morning combined with shocking revisions lower to June and May prints to produce the weakest three-month period of employment growth since the Covid shutdowns of 2020.
The data seems likely to put an end to the wait-and-see approach of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and set the central bank on a path to restarting rate cuts at its next meeting in September.
That’s sent the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond plunging 14 basis points to 4.22% and the price of gold pumping 1.5% to $3,400 per ounce and back within sight of its record high.
Whither two other interest-rate sensitive assets: bitcoin and stocks? Not so much. With about 90 minutes to go in the U.S. trading session, both are at session lows, with the Nasdaq plunging 2.5% and bitcoin down more than 3% to $113,800.
And bitcoin’s an outperformer. Ether (ETH), solana (SOL) BNB (BNB), and dogecoin (DOGE) are all down about 6%. Notably holding its own is XRP (XPR), off just 2.9%.
The president weighs in
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell is a disaster,” said President Trump on Truth Social shortly after the jobs report. “DROP THE RATE.”
Minutes ago, the president again took to his social media platform to call for the firing of Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commission of Labor Statstics (the group overseeing the jobs data), accusing her of cooking the books to boost Biden/Harris last year and make things look worse under his administration.
Checking equities
As for crypto-related stocks, don’t ask. Coinbase (COIN) has plunged nearly 18% as the day’s risk-off mood combined with a punk earnings report Thursday evening. Tradfi-related peer Robinhood (HOOD) is lower by only 3.1%.
Also reporting last night was bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) and it’s tumbling 17%. Peer MARA Holdings (MARA) is down 3%.
High-flying stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) is off 7.5%, as is bitcoin treasury leader Strategy (MSTR).