Bitcoin Tests $80,200 After Hotter U.S. CPI as Chip Stocks Slide

Bitcoin (BTC) fell to $80,200 as September inflation topped expectations, Treasury yields rose and U.S. semiconductor stocks sold off.

The consumer price index rose 3.7% from a year earlier in September, above the 3.6% forecast and August’s 3.4% rate. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 2.6% year over year, topping a 2.5% estimate and reaching its highest level since June.

BTC broke below $82,000 before touching $80,200. The three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.09%, the S&P 500 lost 1.11%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.88%, with technology, memory and semiconductor shares among the decliners.

Gasoline prices jumped 9.1% month over month and accounted for more than half of September’s overall CPI increase. Housing costs rose 0.4% from August, contributing 0.15 percentage point to core inflation. September marked the first increase in the annual inflation rate since May.