Weekly news summary for May 6 to May 12

Friday, May 6: US Job Growth Rises by 428,000 in April

Jobs growth in the US climbed better than expected in April as the leisure and hospitality sector added 78,000 jobs, reinforcing solid fundamentals despite a tight labor market, increasing inflation, and a contraction in the gross domestic product (GDP) observed in the first quarter.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that nonfarm payrolls were up 428,000 in the previous month, exceeding analysts’ forecasts of 400,000, although the latest unemployment rate of 3.6% ended slightly higher than the expected 3.5%.

Monday, May 9: Bitcoin Falls to Lowest Level Since January

Bitcoin extended losses to record its lowest since January on Monday, as cryptocurrencies continued to be weighed by weakened equity markets following a broad sell-off in the US last week.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value was down to $33,266 after hitting its lowest level since January of $32,951 and its lowest since July 2021 of $32,650, bringing Bitcoin over 50% down from its November 2021 high of $68,990.

Tuesday, May 10: US Retail Gas Prices Post Another Record High

US retail gas prices surged on Tuesday to post a new all-time high, as refineries worldwide faced a bottleneck that drove prices up ahead of the summer driving season.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) said the national average price for regular gasoline rose over $0.04 to $4.37 per gallon, surpassing its former all-time high of $4.33, while gasoline futures reached a new high of $3.75 per gallon on Friday before the sell-off on Monday.

Wednesday, May 11: TerraUSD Slips Below 30 Cents, Luna Also Weakens

TerraUSD, a stablecoin intended to keep a 1:1 peg to the US dollar, fell as low as $0.26 on Wednesday as investors anticipated a recovery plan announced by co-founder Do Kwon.

The world’s fourth-largest stablecoin was last seen around $0.46, while its free-floating sister token Luna dropped to $0.90 at one point before bouncing back to $2.14 and has shed about 96% of its value in the last seven days, making it worth less than TerraUSD.

Thursday, May 12: Shares Stumble, US Dollar Surges on Inflation Data

Asian stocks were down near a two-year low and the greenback registered a 20-year high on Thursday, as US inflation figure of 8.3% in April remained close to a 40-year high, increasing investors’ concerns about the possible economic impact of aggressive interest rate hikes to ease it.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 2.3% to hit a 22-month low, and the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.7%, while the dollar index rose to $104.21 to its highest since 2002, and the US and European futures stumbled following the inflation results.