WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stronger-than-expected economic data from the U.S. on Thursday morning diminished hopes of an immediate monetary easing by the Fed, bolstering the dollar and dampening sentiment for cryptocurrencies. Anxiety ahead of the release of PCE-based inflation readings on Friday added to the weak sentiment. Bitcoin touched a low of $108,713 in the past 24 hours.
The six-currency Dollar Index which rallied 0.63 percent on Wednesday and 0.69 percent on Thursday is currently trading 0.11 percent lower on an overnight basis at 98.45 Cryptocurrency market capitalization slipped 2 percent overnight. Bitcoin shed 2.5 percent while Ethereum erased 3.7 percent in the past 24 hours.
Gold Futures (for December settlement) is currently trading with overnight gains of 0.19 percent versus gains of 0.18 percent on Thursday and a decline of 1.25 percent on Wednesday. The yellow metal is currently changing hands at $3,778.42 per troy ounce.
Data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the U.S. economy expanding at an annualized 3.8 percent in the second quarter of 2025, versus 3.3 percent in the second estimate. The strongest performance since the third quarter of 2023 dampened hopes of immediate rate cuts by the Fed.
Data released by the Census Bureau showed durable goods orders in the U.S. rising by 2.9 percent month-over-month in August versus a 2.7 percent slump in July. A part of the increase is expected to be a reflection of the higher prices on account of tariff-led increase in manufacturing costs rather than increased volumes. Markets had anticipated a fall of 0.5 percent.
Data released by the Department of Labor showed initial jobless claims in the U.S. sinking to 218 thousand in the third week of September, while markets expected it rebound to 235 thousand. The lowest figure in two months also contributed to markets toning down rate cut expectations from the Fed.
All eyes are now on the PCE-based inflation readings to be released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis on Friday morning. Headline annual PCE Price Index is seen edging up to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent in July whereas the core component thereof is seen steady at 2.9 percent. Headline monthly PCE price index is expected to edge up to 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent in July whereas the core component thereof is seen edging down to 0.2 percent from the current level of 0.3 percent. Concerns about inflation reiterated by Fed officials in the recent speeches have also spotlighted market's attention on the PCE-based inflation readings.
Crypto market sentiment was also impacted by the negative sentiment prevailing in the crypto spot ETF space on Thursday. Bitcoin Spot ETFs in the U.S. recorded outflows of $253 million and Ethereum Spot ETFs witnessed outflows of $251 million.
The CMC Fear and Greed Index, a proprietary tool developed by CoinMarketCap to measure the prevailing sentiment in the cryptocurrency market plunged deep into the 'fear' category with a reading of 32. The reading was at 41 a day earlier implying a 'neutral' state of the market.
Overall crypto market capitalization declined close to 2 percent in the past 24 hours to $3.75 trillion. The 24-hour trading volume however increased more than 31 percent to $231 billion.
More than 80 percent of the top 100 cryptocurrencies have lost more than a percent in the past 24 hours whereas only 2 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies have gained more than a percent during the same period.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $109.004.89 recording overnight losses of 2.5 percent. The cryptocurrency is currently trading about 12 percent below the all-time-high of $124,457.12 recorded on August 14.
Ethereum slipped 3.7 percent overnight to trade at $3,881.52. Ether's current trading price is 22 percent below its all-time-high. The 24-hour trading range was between $4,053.16 and $3,829.01.
4th ranked XRP also dropped 3.7 percent overnight to trade at $2.72, around 29 percent below the all-time high.
5th ranked BNB slipped 5 percent overnight at its current trading price of $938.53.
The price of 6th ranked Solana decreased 5.2 percent overnight to $192.57.
8th ranked Dogecoin shed 4.1 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.2236.
TRON ranked 9th overall edged up 0.04 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.3333.
10th ranked Cardano dropped 3.3 percent overnight to trade at $0.7631.
48th ranked Plasma (XPL) topped overnight gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a surge of 47.6 percent. The XPL token soared post the launch of Plasma's mainnet on September 25, marking a significant event in the stablecoin-centric Layer 1 blockchain space.
50th ranked Kaspa (KAS) also added 1 percent in the past 24 hours.
43rd ranked Story (IP) topped overnight losses among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a decline of 26.4 percent. 14th ranked Avalanche (AVAX) also erased more than 10 percent in the past 24 hours.
For More Cryptocurrency News, visit rttnews.com
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
