US Inflation 3.7%: The Level That Counts for Bitcoin

US consumer prices rose 3.7 percent in September against the previous year. Economists had expected 3.6 percent. The core rate, which excludes energy and food, rose 2.6 percent and was therefore also above the forecast of 2.5 percent. For the crypto market this is the last inflation reading before the Federal Reserve's rate decision on October 28. Bitcoin trades at around $82,880 after the figure, barely moving from where it stood before publication.

What is decisive for the coming two weeks is not the 3.7 percent headline but the gap between the two readings. It comes to 1.1 percentage points, which is unusually wide. Anyone who wants to know what the Fed will do on October 28 looks at the smaller of the two numbers.

US consumer prices at 3.7 percent: the figures in detail

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the statistical agency of the US Department of Labor, published the consumer price index for September at midday European time on Wednesday. Four readings are at the centre of it:

• Headline rate year on year: 3.7 percent, against a consensus forecast of 3.6 percent.
• Headline rate month on month: up 0.6 percent, seasonally adjusted. Here the forecast was accurate.
• Core rate year on year: 2.6 percent, where 2.5 percent had been expected.
• Core rate month on month: up 0.3 percent.