Bitcoin rose 3% on Friday, surpassing $62,000 on the strength of a better-than-expected jobs report, and rounding out a volatile week for the most popular cryptocurrency. The U.S. created a surprising 254,000 jobs in September, exceeding the 140,000 that some economists had predicted, and signaling strength for the broader U.S. economy.
The jobs numbers also translated into a more bullish outlook for Bitcoin, which had tumbled 6% earlier this week, dropping to around $60,000, partly in response to instability in the Middle East.
Bitcoin experienced a gradual rise in the run-up to the release of the job report. The top cryptocurrency dipped slightly in the hours following the release before spiking over 1%, according to data collected by CoinGecko. Other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and XRP saw similar jumps as well.
For some analysts this is a good sign for the crypto market, but for Omid Malekan, a professor at Columbia Business School, it remains unclear how this information will impact Bitcoin prices in the long term.
Despite the price of Bitcoin increasing 124% in the past year and hitting an all-time high of $72,000 in March, Malekan pointed out, it has bounced around $62,000 over the last eight months. “We know the economy is strong, or stronger than expected,” he said. “And if that’s the case, the Fed is not going to cut interest rates as long as people had hoped, but given what happened for most of this year, it is unclear to me what impact any of that has on the price of Bitcoin.”
The business professor also acknowledged the uncertainty associated with other macroeconomic factors like the upcoming election. “The polls, the betting markets, the experts, everyone thinks it’s kind of going to toss up over who is going to win. So, it’s possible that the uncertainty over that is just weighing over crypto prices,” Malekan said.
“It’s a confusing time, because the usual relationships have not been working,” Malekan added. “And when they don’t work in one direction, then you have to question whether they’re going to work in the other direction.”
According to the report, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% in August from 4.2%. These numbers, in addition to slowing rates of inflation, reduce the probability that the Federal Reserve will continue aggressive rate cuts.