Wall Street’s long rally came to an abrupt halt on Friday as a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report unsettled investors and triggered a broad retreat from technology shares.
The Nasdaq Composite sank 4.18%, its steepest one-day fall since April 2025, while the S&P 500 lost 2.64%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.35% lower, ending a volatile session in which traders moved quickly to reduce their exposure to riskier assets.
The sell-off followed figures showing that the U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, while the unemployment rate held at 4.3%. The data offered further evidence that the labour market remains resilient, but it also complicated the outlook for borrowing costs.
Investors had been hoping the Federal Reserve would begin cutting interest rates, yet a stronger economy and persistent inflation have raised the possibility that policymakers could keep rates elevated for longer.
David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie Group, said the report may have been “too good” given the current inflation backdrop.
Technology companies took the heaviest losses, particularly businesses linked to artificial intelligence and semiconductor manufacturing. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index recorded its sharpest fall since March 2020, wiping more than $1 trillion from the sector’s market value. Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and Broadcom were among the companies caught in the downturn.
The pressure was not limited to equities. Bitcoin also fell sharply as investors stepped away from more speculative assets, while U.S. Treasury yields climbed as traders adjusted their expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next move.
The latest decline has renewed questions about Wall Street’s reliance on a relatively small group of technology companies to drive market gains. U.S. President Donald Trump criticised the response to the jobs figures, saying “too much emphasis is placed on inflation.”
“I hope the market starts to learn that when you have good numbers the market should go up not down,” Trump added.