Cryptos Rally Amidst Drop In U.S. Job Openings

Cryptocurrencies extended gains amidst a bleak labor market environment that dimmed chances of an aggressive stance by the Fed. Close on the heels of the lackluster factory output data, figures released on Tuesday showed job openings in the U.S. vastly lower than expectations, as well as previous readings.

The number of job openings in the U.S. dropped to 9.9 million in February, from 10.56 million in the previous month. The reading, which is the lowest since May 2021 was much below 10.4 million that the markets were expecting. The cooling in labor conditions reinforced the assessment that the headroom available to the Fed to raise rates aggressively would be limited.

PMI readings for the month of March for the U.S. services sector is due on Wednesday morning. Markets expect it to fall to 54.5 from 55.1 earlier.

Prices of gold too surged ahead amidst data showing a sharp decline in demand in the U.S. labor market. Gold Futures for June settlement are currently trading at $2,041 per troy ounce versus $2,022 a day earlier and $1,969 on the last day of March.

The Dollar Index (DXY) which measures the Dollar’s strength against a basket of 6 currencies also reflected the weak sentiment, hovering near 101.68.

Overall crypto market capitalization surged to $1.20 trillion, versus $1.19 trillion a day earlier. Crypto market sentiment remains firm and from among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, only 11 are trading with overnight losses, 22 are trading with weekly losses and 5 are making year-to-date losses.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $28,575.59, having gained 0.9 percent in the past 24 hours, 0.8 percent in the past week and 72 percent in the year 2023.

Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin with an overnight rally of 2.5 percent and a weekly gain of 5.7 percent. Ether has edged closer to Bitcoin’s year-to-date rally with an uptick of 59 percent in 2023.

Bitcoin’s dominance edged lower to 45.8 from 45.9 percent a day earlier whereas Ether’s dominance increased to 19.1 percent, from 18.9 percent a day earlier.

4th ranked BNB(BNB) which was at the receiving end of regulatory ire as well as market rumors gained 1.5 percent overnight but is still 0.60 percent lower on a weekly basis.

6th ranked XRP (XRP) lost heavily, more than 6 percent over the past week despite gaining more than 3 percent overnight.

8th ranked Dogecoin (DOGE) that rallied a day earlier, riding on the unexpected Twitter boost has shed 2.2 percent overnight. The meme-coin is still holding on to weekly gains of 29 percent. Meanwhile market capitalization of the memes category which had surged 18 percent a day ago to $21.99 billion has dropped 1.7 percent overnight to $21.7 billion. Crypto market share of the category has fallen to 1.80 percent, from 1.84 percent a day earlier. DOGE is also the top-ranking cryptocurrency to trade with losses on an overnight basis.

93rd ranked ICON (ICX) is the top gainer with an overnight rally of more than 15 percent.

92nd ranked Solar (SXP) is the greatest laggard with an overnight decline of 6 percent.

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