Markets tilt toward September rate hikes: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

Bitcoin (BTC) sees its first weekly close above $80,000 since early May as clouds gather over the US inflation outlook.

Key points:

• US PPI and CPI inflation numbers are due this week prior to the Fed’s Sept. 16 decision on interest-rate changes.
• Amid record currency interventions, analysis warns that Japan may not be able to sell US treasuries to help stabilize the yen in going forward.
• Bitcoin’s supertrend indicator delivers its first “buy” signal since late 2025, copying the previous bear-market recovery.

CPI, PPI due as markets see 0.25% rate hike next

US inflation data returns to the forefront this week after surprise employment data pressured crypto and risk assets. The August prints of the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) are due for release on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

CPI matched market expectations at 0.1% month-on-month and 3.4% year-on-year last month, continuing on from softer-than-anticipated June results. Although the numbers paint a positive picture for inflation, Kevin Warsh, chair of the US Federal Reserve, stated that these data prints alone did not support the case for reassessing financial policy.

“Each of these broad inflation measures have fallen significantly from their highs of a few years ago, but progress through the past couple of years has been more modest, and while this summer’s PCE and CPI readings were better than expected, they do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved,” he said at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in late August, referring to the Fed’s “preferred” inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index.