The economy added 172,000 jobs in May. Wall Street responded by panicking.
That number, released on June 5, blew past the consensus forecast of 80,000 nonfarm payrolls by more than double. In most contexts, strong job creation is good news. But in the current rate environment, it told investors exactly what they didn’t want to hear: the Federal Reserve has no reason to cut rates anytime soon.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.2% on the day, its steepest single-session decline since April 2025. The S&P 500 fell 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid roughly 1.4%, ending what had been a nine-week winning streak across the major indices.
Bitcoin, ever the sympathetic mover when risk appetite evaporates, traded down toward the $60,000 to $62,000 range.
The chips got crushed
