Bitcoin and Ether prices gained on Friday morning in Asia, while other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were mixed. XRP led losses with 3.87%, followed by Cardano. Weekly unemployment claims in the U.S., an indicator for job cuts, rose slightly by 9,000 to 225,000 last week despite the Federal Reserve’s aggressive attempts to cool inflation, the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday. The four-week average aid applications dropped by just 250 to 221,000. Recession fears have been rising with the Fed’s series of interest rate hikes in 2022, and a spike in layoffs can be an early warning of a recession. (forkast)