According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin (BTC) tried to gain a foothold at the $40,000 mark during the European trading session on Thursday, and the US dollar index traded steadily ahead of the release of the closely watched fourth-quarter US gross domestic product (GDP) data. At 09:38 UTC, the leading cryptocurrency by market value was trading at $40,100, having tested the demand for declines near $38,500 earlier this week. The US dollar index consolidated around 103.70, below the high of around 103.82 reached on Monday. Traders are reconsidering the prospect of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve as the Red Sea inflation crisis continues. According to Fed Funds futures, traders now believe that the probability of a Fed rate cut in March is 50%, down from 80% a month ago. US GDP data will be released at 13:30 UTC, and the data is expected to show that the world's largest economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2% in the last three months of 2023, down from 4.9% in the third quarter, the lowest reading since the second quarter of 2022.