Equities Fall, Yields Jump Intraday After Jobs Report; Tech Leads Sell-Off
US benchmark equity indexes were lower intraday amid a technology sector-led sell-off, while Treasury yields jumped as markets parsed the latest official jobs report.The Nasdaq Composite was down 3.2% at 25,950.7 after midday Friday, while the S&P 500 fell 2% to 7,434.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.9% to 51,109, after closing at a record high in the previous session.Tech saw the steepest drop among sectors intraday Friday, down 4.7%, while consumer staples paced the gainers.IBM (IBM) shares dropped 6%, the worst performer on the Dow. Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Nvidia (NVDA) followed IBM on the index, down 5.8% and 5.6%, respectively. Several other big tech names also fell. These included Microsoft (MSFT), Oracle (ORCL), Salesforce (CRM), Qualcomm (QCOM), Micron Technology (MU), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which tumbled 11% -- the second-worst performer on the S&P 500.In economic news, total nonfarm payrolls in the US rose by 172,000 in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said, nearly double the 88,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey."Overall, this was a solid employment report," TD Economics said in a report. "Not only did headline payrolls come in stronger than expected, but revisions to prior months were meaningfully higher and well above six-and-twelve-month averages, suggesting some reacceleration in hiring activity."US Treasury yields were higher intraday, with the 10-year rate up 7.1 basis points at 4.55%, and the two-year rate soaring 11.9 basis points to 4.17%.Markets widely expect the Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged later this month, which would mark its fourth straight pause, according to the CME FedWatch tool."Most (Federal Open Market Committee) participants have said they would prefer to remove the easing bias in the FOMC statement on account of rising inflation risk, and this (jobs) report should reinforce that shift," Morgan Stanley said in a note. "We read this employment report as indicating the Fed can and will remove its easing bias in June."West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 3.2% at $90.03 a barrel intraday, while Brent fell 2.3% to $92.82.A potential US-Iran peace deal hinges on the Trump administration agreeing to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, CNN reported Friday, citing Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei."The negotiations are at a deadlock, and (US President Donald) Trump must break this deadlock," Rezaei reportedly said. "The ball is in Trump's court."In company news, FedEx Freight (FDXF) shares jumped 7.8% intraday, the best performer on the S&P 500, as Stifel initiated the stock at hold, with a $160 price target.Gold was down 3.1% at $4,367 per troy ounce, while silver dropped 6.5% to $69.13 per ounce.
