Hot May Jobs Print Rattles Markets; Nasdaq Slides 4.2%, Bitcoin Retreats Toward $60,000–$62,000
May hiring came in far stronger than expected, and markets treated it as bad news for rate cuts.
The economy added 172,000 jobs in May, according to figures released June 5—more than double the 80,000 nonfarm payrolls consensus. With inflation and rates still front of mind, investors took the report as a sign the Federal Reserve has little incentive to cut anytime soon.
Equities sold off sharply. The Nasdaq Composite sank 4.2%, its steepest single-session drop since April 2025. The S&P 500 fell 2.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid about 1.4%, snapping what had been a nine-week winning streak across the major indices.
Chip stocks, which had benefited from a rally partly built on expectations of Fed easing, led the downside. Nvidia dropped 6.2%, Broadcom fell 7.9%, and Micron was down roughly 5% to 9% at various points in the session.
Bond yields moved higher as traders repriced the path for policy. The 10-year Treasury yield pushed above 4.5%. The 2-year yield climbed to 4.16%, its highest level in a year, signaling the bond market expects the Fed to stay on hold longer than equity investors had been betting.
Unemployment held at 4.3%. While stable on its face, it reinforced the message of a labor market running hot enough to leave the Fed little room to turn dovish.
Crypto followed risk assets lower. Bitcoin slid toward the $60,000–$62,000 range as appetite for speculative exposure faded. With borrowing costs elevated, less capital tends to flow into higher-volatility assets—an area where many institutional managers still place Bitcoin.
For investors, the key question is whether the move was a one-day shock or the start of a broader repricing. A 10-year yield above 4.5% is often viewed as a psychological trigger for shifting allocations from equities to fixed income. Positioning may also have amplified the decline: after weeks of gains, leveraged long exposure had built up across stocks and crypto, and forced liquidations likely intensified the selling. A 4.2% Nasdaq drop is the kind of session that can spark margin calls and cascade selling, suggesting part of the slide may have been mechanical rather than purely fundamental.
