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

Bitcoin topped $21,000 for the first time in nine days 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 rose as high as $21,287 in the past 24 hours, hitting the highest point since Sept. 13. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading around $20,790, up 2.5%.

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.