Another inflation measure, the Producer Price Index (PPI), fell lower than expected in May, prompting the president to criticize Jerome Powell, as bitcoin prices fell about 1%.
Trump Mocks Jerome Powell As Bitcoin Falls
“We’re going to spend $600 billion a year on a moron.” Those were the words of U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday as he took aim at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates even as a number of economic indicators unexpectedly showed inflation cooling. Bitcoin fell slightly on the news and the stock market tanked.
The producer price index (PPI) measures inflation at the trade or wholesale level and is widely considered a leading indicator compared to the consumer price index (CPI) that measures inflation for consumers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its PPI data on Thursday, showing that wholesale inflation rose 0.1% in May, below the 0.3% increase economists had expected.
The good news did little to lift bitcoin, which has been languishing around $108,000, but Trump used the data as ammunition against Powell, who has been the target of the president’s ire for some time. Trump has previously threatened to fire Powell for not cutting interest rates, which many consider unconstitutional. The Fed will meet again on June 17 and 18 for a scheduled meeting to determine the direction of the country’s interest rates.
“We got inflation under control,” Trump said. “If we cut rates by one point … we would save $300 billion,” he added, referring to the amount the federal government would save in interest payments on outstanding debt if rates were lower. “If we cut rates by two points, we would save … $600 billion.”
The president made the remarks at the White House, where he signed a bill ending California's electric vehicle (EV) ban.
Bitcoin is down 1.09% over the past 24 hours to trade at $108,272.00 at press time. Despite the drop, BTC is still up 4.66% on the week. Price volatility remains relatively limited in the 24-hour range of $106,611.47 to $109,203.62.
Trading activity increased slightly, with 24-hour trading volume up 4.35% to $53.46 billion. Bitcoin's total market capitalization fell in line with price, currently at $2.15 trillion, down 1.09% from yesterday. However, BTC dominance increased to 64.16%, up 0.07%, possibly due to investors leaving volatile altcoins and returning to the dominant cryptocurrency.
In the derivatives market, open interest in futures fell 2.51% to $73.81 billion, reflecting a slightly more cautious stance from traders. Liquidations painted a different picture, with almost all of the $3 million in liquidations coming from short positions and just $1,290 in long liquidations, according to Coinglass. In short, shorts bet against BTC and got wiped out.
