Bitcoin price dips below $82K as high oil prices spike US CPI inflation

Bitcoin fell below $82,000 while bond yields targeted new 24-year highs on the back of hot US CPI inflation.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $82,000 after Wednesday’s Wall Street open as US consumer inflation beat expectations.

Data from TradingView showed crypto, gold and stock-market futures dropping after the release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

At 3.7% year-on-year, this came in 0.1% above majority market consensus, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirmed. The increase in fuel prices around the Middle East conflict and oil-supply crisis was conspicuous.

“The index for gasoline rose 9.1 percent in September, accounting for over half of the monthly all items increase. The energy index increased 5.2 percent over the month following a 2.1-percent increase in August,” an official release stated.

Inflation nonetheless increased across the board, as core CPI — the index minus energy and food — also came in 0.1% higher than anticipated at 2.6% year-on-year.

Commenting, Sonu Varghese, chief macro strategist at Carson Group, suggested that elevated figures should be a foregone conclusion.

“The only surprise is that investors keep getting surprised by broad-based inflation. And we’ve yet to see the full impact of higher diesel prices and the AI boom,” he told CNBC.

The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed markets adjusting expectations of Federal Reserve policy as a result of the data. The majority now favored a 25-basis-point interest-rate hike at the Fed’s upcoming meeting on Oct. 28, with the odds of that outcome at 53.7% versus 22.1% the day prior. For December, meanwhile, the odds of a second 25-basis-point hike stood at 50%.

Fed target-rate probabilities for October FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group

“Taken in combination with the soft payroll numbers in the September employment report, the FOMC is probably on hold for any rate moves at the upcoming October 27-28 meeting although with a definite bias toward a hike in December,” said Theresa Sheehan, economic analyst at Econoday.