Bitcoin Slides to Near $80,800 as Risk Assets Retreat; Haven Buying Lifts Gold and Treasuries
Cryptocurrency markets fell alongside global risk assets on Thursday as hotter U.S. inflation data revived fears of another Federal Reserve rate hike, according to CoinDesk's morning market briefing on October 15. Bitcoin dropped more than 2% over 24 hours to about $80,791, down from a high above $84,000 the previous day. Ether traded near $2,361, while XRP, Solana and other major tokens fell further.
The retreat was not confined to crypto. Copper futures — a closely watched barometer of global growth — fell nearly 1%, extending Wednesday's 1.6% decline; Asian stocks were dragged lower by a rout in South Korean chipmakers; and Nasdaq futures pointed lower before the U.S. open. At the same time, haven assets rose: the 10-year Treasury yield fell eight basis points to 5.08%, pulling back from a recent peak of 5.36%, and gold gained about 1%.
"It feels more like a stagflationary environment where risk assets and the US dollar generally underperform, while gold outperforms," InvestingLive analyst Giuseppe Dellamotta wrote in a market update.
Rate expectations have swung sharply. After Wednesday's consumer price report, futures markets briefly priced the probability of a Fed hike later this month at nearly 50%; by Thursday morning that had eased back to about 29%, with the remainder expecting the central bank to hold its target range at 3.75%–4.00%.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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