Crypto Stocks Plunge as Bitcoin Slides to $18.1K on Inflation Data

It’s a rough session for equities in general and crypto stocks in particular after Thursday morning’s CPI report showed core inflation in September unexpectedly rising to a four-decade high of 6.6%. Headline inflation was 8.2%, also topping economist forecasts.

The news sent bitcoin (BTC) tumbling to $18,100 – not far off from its 2022 low of $17,600. At press time, the price has bounced modestly to $18,400. The major U.S. stock market averages all fell more than 2%, but are currently trying to mount a mid-morning bounce, with the S&P 500 narrowing its decline to just 1%.

Among the mining stocks, Marathon Digital (MARA) is trading lower by 7%, with Riot Blockchain (RIOT) and Core Scientific (CORZ) down similar amounts. U.K. miner Argo Blockchain (ARBK) continued to underperform the rest of the sector, down 16.5% to add to its losses following last week’s decision to raise capital.

MicroStrategy (MSTR), the company that holds 130,000 BTC ($2.4 billion, and falling), is lower by 6.7%, while crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is down 11.5%.