The general sluggishness in top cryptocurrencies over the past few days was extending into the weekend on Saturday afternoon. Both Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) , which continues to hover around the psychologically important $20,000 barrier, was down slightly over 1% over the preceding 24 hours. The No. 2 coin, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) was falling at a deeper rate of 1.8%.
Many alt-asset investors are looking for macroeconomic signs that favor cryptocurrencies , and they're not getting them.
Friday morning, the government's Labor Department released its latest monthly jobs report; this revealed that the U.S. economy added 315,000 jobs in August. Although that was the lowest figure since April 2021, it wasn't far from many economists' estimates. It also indicated that the American labor market continues to tighten, a dynamic that could drive up wages and thus exacerbate inflation.
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Why Bitcoin and Ethereum Were Stuck in the Slow Lane on Saturday