Bitcoin's soft-inflation pop to $85,500 fades as bond yields refuse to fall
- Bitcoin traded just above $83,700 after briefly topping $85,500 on a softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report.
- Persistently high Treasury yields erased much of crypto’s advance, with the 10-year yield near 5.3 percent and the 30-year yield close to its highest level since 2002.
- HYPE and Dogecoin led major cryptocurrencies higher, while Solana slipped nearly 1 percent and XRP was unchanged.
Bitcoin rose 0.4% to just above $83,700 as of Thursday Asian morning hours. A softer-than-expected U.S. inflation report had pushed it as high as $85,500 on Wednesday, and the gains faded as Treasury yields stayed near their highest levels since 2002.
HYPE led the majors, up 3% to about $89, and DOGE gained nearly 2% to just under 10 cents. Ether, BNB, TRX and ZEC each added less than 1%, and XRP was flat at $1.50. SOL was the laggard, slipping nearly 1% to just under $119, according to CoinDesk data.
"August's PCE report showed inflation cooling more than expected, with prices up 3.4% from a year earlier and 3.0% excluding food and energy, which has reduced the odds of another Federal Reserve rate increase in October and made December look like the more likely next move," Dan Khus, chief analyst at LVRG Research, said in an email to CoinDesk.
"Crypto markets took that as a relief signal, and bitcoin jumped back above $85,000 as bond yields slipped and investors became more willing to buy risk assets again," he added.