Stronger US factory activity complicates Bitcoin’s hopes for lower rates

U.S. manufacturers’ production gauge reached its highest reading since November 2021 in October, giving Bitcoin investors a stronger growth signal alongside persistent factory cost pressure. The combination could complicate the case for easier U.S. interest rates even as firmer activity could support appetite for risk.The Institute for Supply Management’s report released November 2 put its production index at 59, up from September’s 56.7. The headline manufacturing PMI rose to 55.5 from 54.5, marking a tenth consecutive month of expansion in the survey.The prices index moved in the opposite direction, falling to 75.2 from 77.9. That is a meaningful counterweight to the stronger production reading: raw-material price increases became less widespread. Yet October still marked the 25th consecutive month of rising raw-material prices.These are diffusion indexes, which measure the breadth of monthly changes across respondents. The production milestone concerns a survey reading, not the physical level of factory output. Likewise, the prices index measures how widespread increases are, rather than the inflation rate.October factory survey and Bitcoin’s competing channels01 / TWO MONTHS, O...