Bitcoin Awaits CPI As Jerome Powell Says Fed Not in a Rush to Cut Interest Rates

Bitcoin (BTC) price reacted to Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell delivering the Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday.

The address comes ahead of Thursday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation data, which is expected to be a significant market mover this week.

Bitcoin Tests $58,000 After Powell’s Fed Update

Bitcoin may have to wait until Thursday for a significant reaction to the US macro news, which is one of the four fundamentals investors are watching for recovery. On Tuesday, BTC tested the $58,000 range, only briefly, reacting to Powell’s testimony, before retracting back to the $57,000 range.

The bump in Bitcoin price came as Powell said the Fed is not ready to cut interest rates just yet. Citing the need for “more good data to strengthen confidence, he expressed a cautious approach to combating inflation. Powell also underscored the importance of seeing inflation move toward the 2% target sustainably.  

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According to the Fed chair, policymakers remain attentive to the risks that inflation poses. They do not want to ease up too soon and too much. They also do not want to ease too little too late as this could ‘unduly weaken the economy.’

“We’re very much balancing those two risks. That’s the essence of what we’re thinking about these days,” Powell said. 

Reiterating his commitment to making decisions on a meeting-by-meeting basis, the Fed chair directed attention to careful assessment of incoming data and balance of risks. This, he said, would help curve an appropriate policy path in rate adjustments.

On the flip side, Powell acknowledged that the labor market remains strong and the economy is expanding at a solid pace.

June’s CPI data will come on Thursday, July 11. The expectation is 3.1%, down from 3.3% the previous month. The decreasing inflation numbers would be a positive factor in pushing BTC prices back up.

Bitcoin Investors Cautious with Low Conviction

The cautious stance on Tuesday follows the first-quarter data, which also pointed to little confidence in the path of inflation. With this signaling the Fed is in no rush to cut rates, crypto markets jolted briefly, hinting at a lack of confidence in the economy. This scenario often drives investors to reevaluate their investment strategies in favor of assets uncorrelated to central bank decisions.

For now, however, technical indicators show Bitcoin is attempting a recovery, but bulls lack conviction. The position of the Relative Strength Index (RSI), a momentum indicator below 50, shows this. With the higher lows on the RSI, however, coupled with the $54,450 support holding, a recovery could be underway.

Read more: Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030

BTC Price Performance. Source: TradingView

Popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital shares his optimism. He said that Bitcoin is showcasing some initial signs of stability after the crash. Keith Alan, co-founder of trading resource Material Indicators, echoes the significance of the $54,000 range as a support floor.

“This new Trend Precognition signal on the Bitcoin Daily signal indicates that price isn’t likely to go lower than yesterday’s candle “today”. For me, a push back down to $54,300 would invalidate,” Alan wrote.

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