Immy Dorse 
So, the jobs numbers came in, and honestly, they were a bit of a letdown. The latest US non-farm payrolls report showed only 22,000 jobs were added in August. To make things a bit more complicated, they even revised the June data downward. It’s the weakest performance we’ve seen in a few years, and it’s got people talking.
Naturally, this has everyone recalculating what the Fed might do next. The expectation for not just one, but three interest rate cuts this year has definitely gotten stronger. You’d think that kind of news would give a real jolt to something like Bitcoin, right? Well, it did, for a minute. BTC popped back up toward $113,000. But it just couldn’t hold on.
Why Didn’t Bitcoin Rally?
It’s a fair question. The initial reaction made sense—weaker economy, higher chance of rate cuts, which is usually good for riskier assets. But the momentum just fizzled out. Part of it seems to be tied to a sell-off in tech and AI stocks, which dragged the Nasdaq down and took Bitcoin along for the ride. There was also some disappointment around a certain company’s exclusion from a major index, which might have soured the mood.
And then there’s the ETF situation. For the first time in over a week, we saw money flowing *out* of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF. It wasn’t a massive amount, but it’s a shift. That steady source of support just wasn’t there this time.
Ethereum’s Even Tougher Week
If Bitcoin’s response was muted, Ethereum’s was practically silent. It actually finished the week down over 2%. The real story is in its ETFs. Last week saw a huge amount of money—over $780 million—head for the exits. That’s a serious vote of no confidence, or at least a sign of major profit-taking.
The only thing that might be keeping ETH from falling further is consistent buying from a handful of public companies that are known for holding a lot of it. Without that, the picture might look a lot worse.
All Eyes on Inflation This Week
So where does that leave us? Well, perhaps everything is on pause until we get the next big pieces of the puzzle. This week, we get the latest Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) readings.
These inflation reports are huge. They’re basically the main thing the Fed is watching. If the numbers come in soft, it could really cement those rate-cut bets and finally give crypto the sustained boost everyone’s waiting for. But if they come in hot? It could be a rough few days.
It feels like the market is holding its breath. The conditions for a rally seem to be there, but the spark is missing. Maybe this week provides it. We’ll just have to see.