Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) fell slightly in Thursday late afternoon trading ahead of the highly anticipated March nonfarm payrolls report. Even so, cryptocurrency-exposed stocks finished the session mixed as the broader stock market closed modestly higher . The token slipped 0.6% to $28.01K at 5:08 p.m. ET and remained in a tight range of $26.7K-29K that's persisted since the start of the tumult in the banking sector last month. Similarly, ethereum ( ETH-USD ) edged down 2.4% to $1.86K. Earlier, Ryan Wilday, founder of Crypto Waves Investing Group, laid out his price targets for the two largest cryptos by market cap -- bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and ether ( ETH-USD ) -- in Investing Experts Podcast. The jobs report, due out on Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET, will provide investors clues on whether the Federal Reserve might continue with its interest-rate hikes or pause such increases. That's been a big debate in recent weeks as the fallout from the banking turmoil, along with a moderation in certain economic data, fueled recession jitters yet again. According to consensus estimates, economists expect the U.S. economy added 238K jobs last month, down from the 311K reported for February and from the blowout January number of over 500K. Should March's print come in hotter than expected, signaling a still-resilient labor market, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and other major cryptos could catch a bid. The opposite might hold true, however, if the reading falls short of expectations. Crypto-related stocks, meantime, ended the session mixed: MicroStrategy ( MSTR ), -0.3% , Coinbase Global ( COIN ), +1.1% , BIT Mining ( BTCM ), -2.1% , Bit Digital ( BTBT ), +3.4% , Silvergate Capital ( SI ), -2.7% , and CleanSpark ( CLSK ), -2% . Note that the stock market will be closed Friday in observance of Good Friday. Daniel Jones, investing group leader of 'Crude Value Insights,' attributed bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) recent climb to "a more speculation-friendly market that is perceived to be around the corner," ultimately calling the token "drastically overvalued." By contrast, Knox Ridley, leader of 'Tech Insider Network,' flagged BTC as a Buy as the "recent decoupling of Bitcoin from equities, we believe, is the start of a new uptrend that appears to be inversely correlated to the financial sector."
