👉👉👉 U.S. CPI Was Flat in May, Beating Expectations; #bitcoin Rises to $69.2K

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) remained unchanged in May, outperforming economist expectations of a 0.1% increase & down from April's 0.3% rise.

On a year-over-year basis, #cpi increased by 3.3%, slightly below the anticipated 3.4% and last month's reading of 3.4%.

The core CPI, which excludes food & energy costs, rose 0.2% in May, also beating forecasts of a 0.3% increase and compared to April's 0.3% rise. Year-over-year, core CPI increased by 3.4%, against expectations of 3.5% and April's 3.6%.

Bitcoin (BTC) responded positively to the lower-than-expected inflation data, jumping to $69,400, up nearly 4% over the past 24 hours.

After significant declines in inflation during 2022 and 2023 as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, the trend has stalled in recent months, remaining above the policymakers' 2% target. This has dampened market participants' expectations of imminent rate cuts.

Earlier this year, traders anticipated five or six 25 basis points (bps) rate cuts in 2024 by the end of December. However, this expectation shrank to one or two cuts before today's CPI report, with the first cut not expected until September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Crypto prices have been "highly sensitive" to U.S. economic data recently, noted K33 Research in a report earlier this week. Recent higher inflation figures and reduced hopes for rate cuts led to Bitcoin's decline from all-time high prices above $73,000 in March to below $57,000 in May. Traders anticipate that looser monetary conditions will fuel the next leg of the crypto rally to record prices.

Several major central banks, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada, have recently lowered benchmark rates, causing the U.S. dollar index (DXY) to reach a one-month high. Investors are now awaiting the Federal Reserve's "dot plot" release, which will reveal interest rate projections from Federal Market Open Committee members and could significantly impact asset prices.

Source - coindesk.com