Data from the Department of Labor shows that initial claims for unemployment benefits were 214,000 during the week ending December 20. This represents a decrease of 10,000 from the unrevised level of the previous week of 224,000. It is also below the estimates of 224,000 for last week.
This macroeconomic data suggests that the labor market may not be as weak as feared, which forced the Fed to cut interest rates three times this year. However, there is a possibility that the drop in weekly claims is due to the volatility of the holiday season. Meanwhile, the price of BTC has reacted to the release of the data.
$BTC fell after the publication of the weekly unemployment claims in the U.S. and is trading just above the psychological level of $87,000. The flagship cryptocurrency has fallen in the last 24 hours and continues to struggle to surpass $90,000.
Initial unemployment claims further reinforce the arguments in favor of the Fed keeping interest rates stable following yesterday's solid GDP report for the third quarter. This is bearish for the price of BTC, considering how rate cuts inject more liquidity into the flagship cryptocurrency and other crypto assets.
The probability that the Fed will maintain rates in January has increased to 86%. Meanwhile, there is only a 13% chance that the Fed will reduce them by 25 basis points (bp).
