Bitcoin dips below $30K as May inflation comes in hotter than expected

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is sliding back to under $30K in Friday morning trading, as U.S. headline consumer price inflation surges to its highest since 1981, exceeding consensus estimates. CPI jumped 8.6% Y/Y in May compared with the consensus of +8.2% and +8.2% in April. The hotter-than-expected print dismisses the notion that the Federal Reserve "can ease up on the pace of rate hikes after the June and July meetings," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. Looking at intraday price action, bitcoin (BTC-USD -2.4%) is trading lower at $29.5K as of shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET. Ethereum (ETH-USD -3.3%) is dipping to $1.7K. Among the major cryptos, cardano (ADA-USD -7.8%), solana (SOL-USD -5.0%) and avalanche (AVAX-USD -6.5%) are falling the most over the past 24 hours. The world's largest digital token by market cap has been trading within a tight range since the beginning of May and remains off by