Last Friday, the strong U.S. non-farm payrolls data was released, and the potential easing of U.S.-China trade tensions contributed to the continued rise of U.S. stocks. Bitcoin fell from 96K to 94K, while Ethereum continued to hover around 1,800. The meme coin GORK surged over 50% after gaining Musk's attention over the weekend. The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision this week, and traders have pushed back their expectations for Fed rate cuts, currently estimating that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at the earliest by the end of July, with a total of 75 basis points cut for the year.
Non-farm employment is strong, will the Federal Reserve delay interest rate cuts?
The U.S. non-farm payrolls added 177,000 jobs in April, higher than the expected 138,000. The data shows a robust labor market and inflation rates above the Federal Reserve's target, leading to expectations that the Fed will continue to take a wait-and-see approach until more evidence of economic downturn emerges.
Although U.S. President Trump seized the unexpectedly strong employment growth opportunity to increase pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, stating there is no reason to delay interest rate cuts. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also pointed out last week that the decline in two-year Treasury yields shows the market believes the Federal Reserve is not cutting rates fast enough.
However, Powell and other policymakers have been caught off guard by the surge in consumer prices post-pandemic, and they have emphasized that they are not in a hurry to respond as inflation rates continue to remain above the 2% target level.
Before announcing this week's interest rate decision on Wednesday, Powell and his colleagues emphasized that the central bank must ensure that any price increases resulting from Trump's tariff measures do not lead to a sustained rise in consumer prices again. However, they also made it clear that they will intervene if the economy deteriorates.
According to the CME FedWatch index, traders have pushed back their expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, currently estimating that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points at the earliest by the end of July, with a total of 75 basis points cut for the year, compared to previous estimates of June and 100 basis points.
Bitcoin falls to 94K, Musk focuses on GORK's surge.
Bitcoin has fallen from 96K to 94K, while Ethereum continues to hover around 1,800. The top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization all saw slight declines over the weekend.
This weekend, the hottest topic is the meme coin GORK! GORK is a meme coin imitating the xAI Grok chatbot and has been listed on Binance Alpha. Musk began paying attention to the official X account of $GORK on the morning of May 3, 2025, and replied with a smiley face emoji under related posts. This action was interpreted by the market as indirect support for GORK, leading to a rapid surge in the price of $GORK, which increased by over 50% in one day!
