BlockBeats report: On May 12, U.S. April CPI data reached a three-year high, sparking market concerns over the Federal Reserve potentially raising interest rates again. Both U.S. stocks and bonds came under pressure, but Bitcoin demonstrated relative resilience. Data showed that U.S. core CPI rose 0.4% month-over-month, exceeding the market expectation of 0.3%, and increased year-over-year to 2.8%. The overall CPI, including energy prices, rose 3.8% year-over-year, up from 3.3% and marking the highest inflation level since May 2023.
Affected by the data, the market quickly adjusted its expectations for the Fed’s policy path. CME FedWatch data shows that traders now assign over a 35% probability to at least one rate hike within 2026, whereas just weeks ago, the prevailing market expectation was for rate cuts this year. Risk assets subsequently declined, with the Nasdaq index falling over 1.3% and U.S. Treasury yields rising in tandem. However, the crypto market demonstrated some resilience.
Bitcoin remained above $80,000 after the data release, trading at approximately $80,500, with minimal change over the past 24 hours; Ethereum and XRP declined by about 2.5%.