Bitcoin price eyes $74K as Fed rate-hike bets hit 96% after Waller speech

Bitcoin (BTC) fell toward $74,000, and US stock futures dropped on Tuesday as a senior Federal Reserve official voiced support for hiking interest rates.

Key points:

• Bitcoin traded 1.3% lower on Tuesday, reaching $74,080 as Nasdaq futures fell 0.4% ahead of the Wall Street open.
• October US CPI data, due for release at 8.30am on Tuesday, is expected to show a monthly increase of 0.3%, less than September’s 0.6% gain.
• Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said that he would “support” a 0.25% interest-rate hike at the Dec. 9 FOMC meeting regardless of Tuesday’s CPI reading.

Waller would “still support” December rate hike after lower CPI

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $74,080 on Bitstamp, down 1.3% on the day.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

US stock market futures leaned lower as Fed governor Christopher Waller said that he would support hiking interest rates by 25 basis points at the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Dec. 9. At the time of writing, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.4%.

His decision, he added, would not be swayed by lower-than-expected inflation data. The October prints of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) is due for release at 8.30 am Eastern time on Tuesday. It is expected to show a month-on-month increase of 0.3% versus September when the increase was 0.6%, pushed higher by rising fuel costs.