Payrolls miss lifts stocks, but bitcoin sells the spike

US employers added 29,000 jobs in September against a consensus of 84,000, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%. Treasury yields tumbled and traders pared bets on a Fed rate hike this month. US stocks rallied on the news, European stocks fell, and bitcoin spiked and then faded.

Markets

On the US close of 2 October, the S&P 500 gained 0.89%, the Nasdaq rose 1.35%, the Dow added 0.64% and the Russell 2000 climbed 0.35%. Nvidia hit a record intraday high of $237.88, taking its market capitalisation above $5.7 trillion.

Europe went the other way, on rising bond yields and fiscal worries in France and the UK. The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 1.14% to 627.65, its lowest close since June. The FTSE 100 fell about 1.7%, its worst session since May. The DAX lost 1.03% and the CAC 40 fell 1.62%.

Commodities

Oil fell. Brent dropped about 2.6% on the day to near $99.7 a barrel, and WTI fell about 2.7% to near $90.4. Gold rose about 0.9% to roughly $4,217 an ounce.

Crypto

Bitcoin reached $87,220 in the 12:00 UTC hour as the jobs data landed, then sold off from 14:00 UTC. As of 18:56 UTC it traded at $84,182, down 0.8% from the 00:00 UTC open of $84,880. The low of the day so far was $83,888.

Other majors fell on the same baseline. Ether traded at $2,663 (down 1.6%), XRP was down 2.0%, DOGE down 3.7% and SOL down 0.3%.

On regulation, the Senate's CLARITY market-structure bill failed a cloture vote 49-50 on 15 September. Unless there is a quick re-vote before Congress recesses on 5 October, it likely slips to 2027. The SEC and CFTC are going ahead with their own rulemaking, including the SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets. That proposal has two registration exemptions: one for offerings of up to $5 million over four years, and one for up to $75 million in each 12-month period.

What it means for crypto trading

Bitcoin sold the good news while equities rallied, so it isn't following the Nasdaq at the moment. The $83.9k-$84k lows are the level to watch. A break below them would confirm the fade, and a legislative stall adds no regulatory tailwind.

Sources: