Bitcoin pulls back to $90,000 as early Friday rally attempt fails

A quick U.S. mid-morning surge to the $92,000 area for bitcoin BTC$90,401.70 failed to hold, with prices quietly retreating for the rest of the session. Approximately 60 minutes before the U.S. stock market closes on Friday, bitcoin is trading at $90,300, down nearly 1% over the past 24 hours.

As has been typical for the last few weeks, bitcoin is failing to gain ground as most other assets rise in price. The Nasdaq is up 1% and the S&P 500 is up 0.8%. Precious metals and crude oil are surging across the board, and the bond market is marginally ahead.

Read more: Bitcoin may be gearing up for a rally that sent price to $126,000 last year

On the news front, Friday’s U.S. December employment report was mixed, showing job gains of just 50,000 last month and sizable downward revisions to previous months. Economist forecasts had been for 60,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate, however, fell to 4.4% from 4.6% in November. Expectations had been for just a tick lower to 4.5%.

The University of Michigan Sentiment Index for January rose to 54 against forecasts for 53.5 and 52.9 in December. The closely watched one-year inflation expectations rose to 4.2% from 4.1%. This gauge, though, remains highly susceptible to political affiliation, with Democrats expecting inflation of 5% and Republicans just 1%.

Finally, a Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Trump Administration’s tariff regime will have to wait. Watchers had been expecting a ruling on Friday morning, but the tariff case result was not among those published by the court. More case decisions from the U.S high court are expected next Wednesday.

Crypto-related stocks are mostly lower, including Coinbase (COIN), down 2.3%, Gemini (GEMI), down 4.5%, and Strategy (MSTR), down 5.6%. There are some gains being seen in bitcoin miners that have pivoted to AI infrastructure, with Hut 8 (HUT), IREN (IREN), and Core Scientific (CORZ) all up in the 2%-4% range.