On the evening of June 5th, the three major US stock indices collectively moved lower after opening. As of 9:45 PM, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.17%, the S&P 500 index had fallen 0.74%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index had dropped 1.25%. Prior to the market open, the latest US employment data was released, showing that US non-farm payrolls increased by 172,000 in May, compared to an estimate of 88,000. Following the data release, gold and silver prices experienced a short-term sharp decline. Traders increased their expectations for further monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Looking at specific sectors, US chip stocks were down across the board. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell over 5%. ARM Holdings shares plunged more than 8%, while Marvell Technology dropped over 7%. Intel Corporation was down nearly 6%, and NVIDIA Corporation fell more than 2%. Storage-related concepts were broadly lower, with Western Digital Corp. down over 7%. SanDisk Corp. and Micron Technology, Inc. both fell more than 6%, and Seagate Technology Holdings plc declined over 5%.
Optical communications concept stocks also fell collectively. Coherent Corp. was down over 5%, Nokia Oyj fell more than 7%, Corning Incorporated dropped over 6%, and Lumentum Holdings Inc. declined more than 2%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks were mostly lower, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index falling over 1.68%. Baidu, Inc. and Canadian Solar Inc. were both down more than 6%. WeRide.ai fell over 5%, while Alibaba Group Holding Limited and NetEase, Inc. both declined more than 1%.
The US employment data released tonight showed that non-farm payrolls increased by 172,000 in May, compared to an estimate of 88,000 and a previous reading of 115,000. The US unemployment rate for April was 4.3%, holding steady for the second consecutive month; the expectation was 4.3%, and the prior reading was 4.3%. According to reports, US interest rate futures indicated that the probability of a rate hike by December rose to 63% after the employment data release, up from 48% prior to the data. Traders now expect the Federal Reserve to implement a rate hike by the end of January next year, whereas previously the expectation was for a hike by the end of March next year.
In the commodities sector, gold and silver prices tumbled. Spot gold fell over 1% to $4,410.55 per ounce, while the spot silver price dropped nearly 4%. Oil prices also experienced a short-term decline, with US crude oil down over 1% and Brent crude oil falling more than 0.7%.
Major cryptocurrencies saw sharp declines, with Bitcoin falling to around $62,000. Over the past 24 hours, more than 240,000 traders across the entire market were liquidated.