Bitcoin steadies near $65,000 as weaker jobs data meet Hormuz inflation risk

Bitcoin traded around $64,955 after briefly rising above $65,000, extending a recovery driven by weaker U.S. employment data and robust demand from institutional investors. The token was up 0.66% over 24 hours and 4.36% over seven days, with a session high of $65,245, as traders looked ahead to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' July consumer price index release on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 8:30 a.m. ET. The rebound followed an unexpectedly weak July U.S. jobs report showing a loss of 23,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, an unemployment rate near 4.1%, and downward revisions of 103,000 combined jobs for May and June. Bitcoin initially rose nearly 2% after the report on expectations that softer labor data would reduce pressure for renewed Federal Reserve tightening. Fed officials' July 29 comments after holding the target range at 3.50%-3.75% were non-committal, though three voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee backed a 25-basis-point hike. Institutional flows reinforced the move. SoSoValue recorded about $854 million in net inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs from Aug. 3 to Aug. 7, including $694 million into BlackRock's IBIT, while Farside tracked $865.3 million over the same period. Bitcoin continued to face resistance in the $65,000-$66,000 zone, with analyst Michaël van de Poppe pointing to $65,800 as a key weekly level that could open the way toward $73,700. Markets are now focused on whether July CPI, expected by economists surveyed by Reuters to show headline inflation easing to 3.4% and core CPI to 2.5%, will validate the recent rebound or revive hawkish expectations that pressure risk assets.