Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Drops to $63K Amid Lower Rate Cut Odds; SOL and AVAX lead crypto slide
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly fell below $63,000 on Thursday as cryptocurrencies fell following new data showing higher inflation and slower growth in the US in the first quarter.
The U.S. government’s preliminary report for first-quarter GDP showed growth of just 1.6%, substantially lower than the 2.5% forecast by analysts and below the 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, the GDP price index came in slightly warmer than expected, at 3.1. % and above 1.6% in the previous quarter.
The disappointing inflation data report spooked investors, with hopes of interest rate cuts this year fading further, hitting risk assets across markets. Major U.S. stock indexes such as the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq began trading down nearly 2%, while the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note jumped 8 basis points to 4.0%. 73%, its highest reading since November.
At one point, BTC fell more than 4%, hitting a low of $62,800 before recovering to $63,700 recently. Ether (ETH) it also fell 4% during the same period, changing hands at around $3,100.
Top altcoins fell further, led by layer-1 network’s native Solana tokens (SUN)Avalanche (AVAX) and Apartments (APTO), all falling 8%-9% before paring some of the losses. The broad market reference CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) decreased by 6%.
“The Fed is cornered after today’s worse-than-expected GDP report,” said Mike Cornacchioli, senior vice president of investment strategy at Citizens Private Wealth, in an email to CoinDesk. “The data dispels rate cut expectations and investors are questioning whether the Fed will be able to cut rates in 2024, which has implications for all financial markets.”
UPDATE (April 25, 19:32 UTC): Adds analyst comments to the story.