Bitcoin Holds Near $87,000 as U.S. Job Growth Falls Short

The U.S. added just 29,000 jobs in September, far below the 90,000 economists had expected, but bitcoin held on to its earlier gains. According to CoinDesk’s direct reporting, the cryptocurrency traded just below $87,000 in the minutes after Friday morning’s release, up more than 2% over the previous 24 hours. The immediate market response left bitcoin higher even as the employment figures showed a weaker labor market.

The government’s Nonfarm Payrolls Report, which tracks employment outside farming, also showed the unemployment rate climbing to 4.2%. That was above both the expected 4.1% and August’s 4.1% reading. Taken together, the figures showed two sides of the slowdown: employers added fewer jobs than forecast, while the share of people in the labor force without work moved higher.

Earlier hiring gains shrink

September’s weak hiring figure was not the only setback in the report. August’s increase was cut to 133,000 jobs from the initially reported 162,000. July’s result changed more sharply in direction: a previously reported gain of 21,000 jobs became a loss of 10,000. Those revisions lowered the starting point for September and showed that the preceding two months had been weaker than the earlier numbers suggested.

Pay growth also came in below expectations. Average hourly earnings rose 0.1% in September, compared with a forecast of 0.3% and August’s 0.3% increase. Over the year, earnings grew 3%, short of the expected 3.2% and below August’s 3.1% pace. The report therefore showed softer results in both hiring and wage growth, rather than a payroll shortfall standing on its own.

For the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, the figures sharpen the challenge of assessing a weakening labor market while inflation remains elevated. CoinDesk described the employment weakness as potentially giving the Fed room to hold interest rates. That is a possible policy implication, not an announced decision. The release offered a fresh reading on jobs and pay, but did not settle how the central bank would respond.

Bitcoin keeps its footing as other markets rise

Bitcoin was already trading higher before the figures arrived. CoinDesk put it around $86,600 following the release, still just under $87,000. That sequence matters: the cryptocurrency maintained an existing advance rather than starting its climb after the report. U.S. stock index futures, contracts tied to the expected level of share indexes, also extended their gains, with Nasdaq futures up 1.2%.

Other markets moved alongside them. The yield, or market return, on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond dropped seven basis points—0.07 percentage points—to 5.17%. The two-year Treasury yield fell by a similar amount to 4.71%. Gold rose more than 1%, while the U.S. dollar weakened against major currencies. The reaction spread beyond digital assets to stocks, government debt, precious metals and currencies.

The next focus is whether bitcoin can retain those gains as markets assess the weaker hiring, downward revisions and slower wage growth. For the Fed, the issue remains how to weigh that softer employment picture against still-elevated inflation. The first response was clear enough: bitcoin held its advance, while bond yields and the dollar moved lower.