Bitcoin Hits 7-Week High, Shrugging Off Unexpectedly Strong US Jobs Report

Bitcoin hit a seven-week high after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report in October showed that the labor market remains surprisingly robust even as the Federal Reserve pushes to cool down the economy.

The bitcoin (BTC) price reached $21,287 at 14:41 UTC on Friday, hitting the highest point since Sept. 13. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization had settled back to $20,790, up 2.5% in the past 24 hours.

The CoinDesk Market Index was up 3.7%. Ether (ETH) followed a similar trajectory, rising 5.6% to $1,620 as of press time.

Traditional markets also put up a strong performance Friday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 0.2%.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at the possibility of smaller interest rates in December and at future monetary-policy meetings to curb hot inflation. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell quickly warned at a press conference that officials were not even beginning to discuss a full pause to the rate hikes, as some economists and investors had begun to speculate.

“A downshift to a slower pace of tightening still seems in the cards for the Fed and that should provide some short-term support for cryptos,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote in a Friday note.