Bitcoin slid below $67,000 on Wednesday, dragging the cryptocurrency and bitcoin mining stock sectors lower as traders recalibrated expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts following a strong jobs print for January.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. payrolls increased by 130,000 in January, exceeding the consensus estimate of 55,000. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3%, signaling a robust labor market that could compel the central bank to maintain restrictive policy for longer.
The macro pressure overshadowed positive operational updates across the industry, resulting in a sea of red for major tickers after market open as these stocks put in daily lows in morning trading hours.
TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) led the decline, dropping 7.28% to a morning low of $15.42. The sell-off came despite the company’s announcement earlier in the week regarding the acquisition of industrial sites in Kentucky and Maryland, a move intended to double its power capacity.
Cipher Mining (NASDAQ: CIFR) shares fell 6.67% to $15.96. The company recently priced a $2 billion note offering to fund its “Black Pearl” data center in Texas. While the offering was six times oversubscribed, the broader market downturn weighed heavily on the stock during Wednesday’s session.
IREN (NASDAQ: IREN) dropped 5.94% to $40.38, continuing a downward trend following its quarterly results. The miner reported a 23% decline in quarterly revenue on Feb. 6, prompting analysts at JPMorgan to maintain an “underweight” rating due to funding concerns for future infrastructure targets.
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) fell 5.82% to $35.29, pulling back after a strong January performance where it gained 55% as an AI/HPC pure-play.
CleanSpark (NASDAQ: CLSK) traded down 3.69% to $9.66, erasing earlier optimism surrounding its earnings report. The company posted an 11.6% increase in revenue to $181.2 million and secured 890 MW of additional power capacity, but the news was insufficient to buck the sector-wide negative trend.
Hut 8 (NASDAQ: HUT) declined 4.90% to $52.21. The company is awaiting zoning approval for a massive $5 billion data center project in Illinois.
Galaxy Digital (TSX: GLXY) fell 3.45% to $20.46 following a fourth-quarterloss of $482 million driven by lower cryptocurrency prices. HIVE Digital (NASDAQ: HIVE) dropped 3.48% to $2.22, despite improving monthly bitcoin production by 191% in January.
MARA (NASDAQ: MARA) showed relative resilience but still traded lower, falling 1.17% to $7.57. The stock faced headwinds after reports that the French government stalled its acquisition of Exaion due to national sovereignty concerns.
Bitfarms (NASDAQ: BITF) slipped 2.27% to $2.15 as it prepares to redomicile to the U.S. and rebrand as Keel Infrastructure.
At the time of publication, many of these bitcoin mining stocks bounced off the daily lows they hit in the morning, but many are still in the red.
Header image by Sigmund via Unsplash.
