Bitcoin and Wall Street bleed after U.S. economy loses 92K jobs
The cryptocurrency market faced a sharp correction on March 6 as Bitcoin slid below the $70,000 mark.
The digital asset saw a decline of more than 5% over a 24-hour period, reacting to fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report revealed a struggling labor market, noting that the U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate edged upward to 4.4%.
This downturn follows a brief period of optimism. Only a day earlier, on Thursday, March 5, Bitcoin had climbed above $72,000. However, at the time of writing, the price had retracted to $68,412., marking a total daily loss of 3.4%.
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Labor market data misses the mark
The contraction in the workforce caught many by surprise. After a resilient January that saw 126,000 jobs added, economists had anticipated a modest gain of 50,000 positions for February. Instead, the loss of 92,000 jobs pushed the unemployment rate from 4.3% to 4.4%.
The ripple effects of the employment report were felt far beyond the crypto space. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted more than 900 points during the opening minutes of Friday’s session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 1.7%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields showed significant movement, with the 10-year benchmark recently trading at 4.18% after an initial dip.
While domestic markets struggled, the global picture remained mixed. Most Asian markets managed to post gains after a difficult week, even as European indexes moved slightly lower. Meanwhile, safe-haven assets like gold and silver saw modest increases as investors looked for stability amid the uncertainty.
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Energy crisis looming as oil prices climb
Adding to the economic complexity is a relentless surge in energy costs. Brent crude futures rose to $90 a barrel, positioned for their highest close since mid-2024.
Oil prices have climbed more than 20% this week alone, fueled by the seventh day of conflict in the Middle East following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
A storage crisis is also emerging. Kuwait has started scaling back production at various oil fields because it has no remaining space to store bottled-up crude.
To combat these soaring costs, the Trump administration has moved to ease certain sanctions. The Treasury recently issued a waiver to allow India to purchase Russian oil currently at sea and permitted specific transactions involving the German branch of Russia’s state-owned Rosneft.
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