Market Overview: Ether and other cryptocurrencies surge despite troubling inflation concerns

Key points:

The U.S. Labor Department announced a small drop in weekly jobless claims, just a few hours after the Bank of England raised rates by 75 basis points.
However, bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, have recently traded at roughly the same level as the past two weeks.
Most of the other major tokens were solid in green trade, with Web3 platform Filecoin and Storj tokens up more than 14% and 10%, respectively.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.7%, while the S&P 500 lost 1%. Safe-haven gold extended recent losses, down 0.4%.

Price action

More storm clouds formed on the global economy on Thursday as the U.S. Labor Department announced a small drop in weekly jobless claims, just a few hours after the Bank of England raised rates by 75 basis points, in line with the latest U.S. rate hike,

The two separate events underscored efforts by central banks to cool the economy and contain inflation, and sent stocks lower.

However, bitcoin and ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, have recently traded at roughly the same level as the past two weeks. BTC held steady at around $20,200, having risen slightly over the past 24 hours, while ETH continued to hover above $1,500, up 2% over the same period.

“Tough monetary policy and macroeconomic uncertainty continue to rage,” wrote Maksym Koroliov, a crypto market analyst at Btcman. “But in the end, crypto investors have little idea beyond the cost basis.”

Most of the other major tokens were solid in green trade, with Web3 platform Filecoin and Storj tokens up more than 14% and 10%, respectively. The growth comes after Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it would use decentralized storage product Arweave to archive creators’ digital collectibles. Arweave’s native token AR surged 60% earlier in the day.

The labor market will soon provide more concrete evidence that the central bank’s efforts to curb rising prices are working labour. Layoffs at online retail giant Amazon and ride-sharing service Uber sent stocks lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.7%, while the S&P 500 lost 1%. Amazon has warned that business will decline. Safe-haven gold extended recent losses, down 0.4%.

Technical Records

Bitcoin Holders Continue to Reject Macro Data