The heavyweight U.S. nonfarm payrolls report released on Friday showed that both job and wage growth were stronger than expected: U.S. nonfarm payrolls added 272,000 new jobs in May, 92,000 more than the consensus expectation, average hourly earnings increased by 4.1% YoY, failing to stabilize at April's expected 3.9%, up by a faster-than-expected growth of 0.4% MoM, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly failed to stabilize in April, rising for the first time in more than two years to 4.0%.

Commentators said this is an unfriendly report for monetary easing, as the strong labor market it reflects could lead to stubborn inflationary pressures and strengthen the cautious attitude of the Federal Reserve toward cutting interest rates, thus the Fed may maintain high rates in the coming months. Mohamed El-Erian, former CEO of PIMCO, commented that the report closed the door on a July rate cut.

The employment report dashed expectations for interest rate cuts this year, which had reignited earlier this week. Before the report was released, derivative contract pricing fully anticipated a rate cut in November. After the report was released, traders' expectation for a rate cut in November dropped to about 80%, and the expected total rate cut for this year dropped from 47 basis points before the report to about 37 basis points.

After the release of the employment report, U.S. Treasury prices fell sharply, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield and the two-year Treasury yield, which is more sensitive to interest rate expectations, both rising more than 10 basis points during the trading session. The U.S. dollar index, which had approached its lowest level in two months earlier in the day, surged in a straight line and rose to a one-week high; U.S. stocks opened lower; precious metals such as gold, silver and copper fell sharply, with New York gold and spot gold both falling more than 3%, the biggest drop in more than two years, while silver futures fell more than 6% and copper futures fell more than 4%.

However, the decline in US stocks eased during the trading session. Seven tech giants, including Nvidia, which fell more than 2% at the opening, all turned positive during the trading session. The only rising stock was Apple, which rose more than 1% before the global developer conference WWDC focusing on AI next Monday, after being exposed to 18 AI features for iOS. Nvidia rose by double digits throughout the week, helping the US stock indices, which had fallen back last week, to rebound across the board. However, GameStop, which disclosed that it may sell up to 75 million shares, plummeted more than 40% during the trading session, erasing most of the gains after Thursday's news that the 'big brother' of retail investors, Keith Gill, restarted his YouTube live broadcast after three years, and the decline did not narrow even after Gill went live.

Compared with metals, international crude oil had limited decline among commodities and turned positive many times during the trading session. The impact of the Fed's expectation for rate cuts on oil demand outlook, coupled with Baker Hughes data, showed that the number of active oil and gas rigs in the US fell to a new two-and-a-half-year low this week. In addition, Saudi Arabia's energy Minister hinted on Thursday that the production agreement reached by OPEC+ last weekend could be adjusted or even canceled, partly offsetting downward pressure on oil prices. Crude oil continued to fall throughout the week, mainly due to the OPEC+ agreement, which showed that eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, would gradually cancel the voluntary production cuts starting from October. After the agreement was announced, oil prices plummeted on the first trading day this Monday. Gold and other metals also fell this week. In addition to employment reports raising concerns about rate cuts, there were also comments that China's gold reserves in May stopped rising for 18 consecutive months, which was also negative news for gold on Friday.

The three major US stock indices all turned positive during the trading session, and Nvidia fell for two consecutive days after failing to rebound; GameStop's decline continued to expand after retail investors' 'big brother' live broadcast.

The three major U.S. stock indices all opened lower, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling more than 130 points and over 0.3% in early trading, turning positive and maintaining its upward trend a half-hour after the opening and rising nearly 220 points or nearly 0.6% intraday, refreshed the daily high, only to turn lower at midday. The S&P 500 index opened down 0.4%, wiping out the losses in less than an hour, while the Nasdaq composite index fell nearly 0.5% at the opening and turned positive more than an hour after the opening. Both hit their daily high at noon and rose respectively with the S&P.

In the final trading session, the three major indices fell and ultimately closed down. The S&P fell 0.11% to 5,346.99, while the Nasdaq fell 0.23% to 17,133.13, both continuing to fall from Wednesday's record closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had closed at a high since May 24 for three consecutive days, fell 87.18 points, or 0.22%, to 38,798.99.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index, which is dominated by value stocks, fell 1.12%, down for two consecutive days and underperforming the large-cap stocks, hitting a new closing low since May 2 set on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index fell 0.11%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ), an ETF tied to the performance of the index, fell 0.09%. The Nasdaq Tech Index (NDXTMC), a market cap-weighted index measuring the performance of tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100, fell 0.03%, and all three declined for the second consecutive day after reaching a new closing high for three consecutive days this week. The latter rose 3.78% this week.

The main US stock indexes rebounded collectively this week, with the S&P up 1.32%, the Nasdaq up 2.38%, and the Nasdaq 100 up 2.5%, all up for the sixth week in the past seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had fallen for two consecutive weeks, was up 0.29%. The Russell 2000, which saw a small increase last week, fell 2.11% this week.

Among Dow Jones Industrial Average components, Unitedhealth, a healthcare giant, fell more than 2% on Friday, leading the way down, while Walmart fell nearly 2%, Home Depot and McDonald's fell more than 1%, and 3M rose more than 2%, with Travelers, Apple, JPMorgan, IBM, and Intel all rising more than 1%. Among the major sectors in the S&P 500, only four rose on Friday, with finance up nearly 0.4%, IT, which includes Apple, up 0.2%, medical and industrial sectors up 0.1%, and seven falling sectors, with real estate and utilities, which were hit by high interest rates, falling nearly 0.9% and 1.1%, respectively, and materials, dragged down by a sharp drop in metals, falling by about 1%.

This week, six sectors rose, with IT up more than 3.8%, medical up nearly 2%, communications services up more than 1.7%, non-essential consumer goods up 1.5%, and necessary consumer goods up nearly 0.5%; among the four declining sectors, utilities fell nearly 4%, energy fell nearly 3.5%, materials fell 2%, industrial fell nearly 1%, finance fell nearly 0.5%, and real estate fell more than 0.2%.

Including Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, parent company of Facebook, and Tesla, the seven tech giants of the FAANMG group all saw their stock prices rise during trading, but most finished down. Tesla, which had risen for two consecutive days this week, initially fell 1.1% during trading, then rose nearly 0.8% in the morning before falling 1.3% during the noon market, and eventually closed down nearly 0.3%, falling more than 0.3% this week and experiencing a small decline for two consecutive weeks.

Of the six major tech stocks in the FAANMG group, Microsoft had risen for three consecutive days to a high since May 29, then up 0.4% during trading before falling nearly 0.3% at the close. Google's parent company, Alphabet, which had risen for five consecutive days to a high since May 21, turned down multiple times during trading and closed down nearly 1.4%. Amazon, which had risen for three consecutive days to May 15, fell nearly 0.9% at the beginning of trading, then rose 0.7% during trading before closing down nearly 0.4%. Meta rose 1% during noon trading after a rebound on Wednesday to a high since April 23, then fell nearly 0.2% at the close after a decline in the late afternoon. Netflix initially fell and then closed down nearly 1.1% and fell further from the 3% rebound it experienced last week. Apple fell transiently at the beginning of trading, but closed up more than 1.2%, reaching a closing high since December 19, 2023, after ending its eight-day upward trend on Thursday.

Most of these six tech stocks rose this week, with Meta up nearly 5.5%, Amazon up more than 4%, Apple and Microsoft up more than 2%, and Alphabet up more than 1%, while Netflix fell less than 0.1%.

The chip stocks rose and fell alternately, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Semiconductor Industry ETF SOXX falling nearly 0.7% at the beginning of the trading day. They rebounded several times during the morning and afternoon sessions, but ended up falling by about 0.3%. After rebounding on Wednesday, the index has fallen for two consecutive days. This week, it has risen by 3.2% and nearly 2.6%, respectively. Among the chip stocks, Nvidia fell nearly 2.5% at the beginning of the trading day, turned slightly higher during the afternoon session, and ultimately fell by less than 0.1%, continuing to be far from the record high created on the third consecutive day of Wednesday's close. This week, it has risen by 10.3%. At the close, Semtech (SMTC), which announced the departure of its CEO, fell 17.9%, while Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor rose more than 1%. AMD and Micron Technology rose nearly 0.7%, and Broadcom rose nearly 0.4%.

Most AI concept stocks fell. The AI and robotics ETF, Glb X Robotics & Afl Intelligence ETF (BOTZ), fell nearly 4% at the close. SoundHound.ai (SOUN) fell nearly 4%, Dell (DELL) fell 3%, Palantir (PLTR) fell 2%, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and Astera Labs (ALAB) fell more than 1%, while BigBear.ai (BBAI) rose 5.9%, Oracle (ORCL) rose nearly 2%, and C3.ai (AI) rose 0.2%.

China concept stocks as a whole fell and underperformed the broader market. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) opened low and fell nearly 2% at noon, closing down more than 1.7%. It has fallen for two consecutive days and hit a new low since the closing on May 1 created on Monday of last week, down more than 1.6% this week. Both the KWEB and CQQQ ETFs fell by about 2.9%. Among the emerging car companies, at the close, Xpeng fell more than 2.5%, NIO and Kuke fell more than 1%, while Li Auto rose more than 1%. Among other individual stocks, Daqo New Energy and Bilibili fell more than 5%, JinkoSolar fell more than 4%, Tencent Music fell more than 3%, Alibaba fell 2%, Baidu fell nearly 2%, JD.com fell more than 1%, while Pinduoduo ticked up and Netease remained flat.

Among the stocks with greater volatility, GameStop (GME), which rose 47.5% on Thursday, opened down 19%, rose 3.1% briefly in the morning, and then fell more than 30% in the morning after temporarily rebounding. After Keith Gill's live broadcast during the afternoon session, its decline intensifies, dropping nearly 44%. Vail Resorts (MTN), a ski resort operator whose third-quarter earnings and revenue fell below expectations, fell 10.3%. Despite better-than-expected first-quarter results, electronic signature company DocuSign (DOCU) still fell 4.7%. Planet Labs (PL), which had lower-than-expected losses and higher-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, rose by about 11%, while its blood disease drug, Rytelo, was approved earlier than expected by the FDA and saw a nearly 18% rise in stocks of biopharmaceutical company Geron (GERN).

After the US employment report, pan-European indices remained in a downtrend for two consecutive days. The Stoxx 600 index in Europe fell from the closing high of May 15 on Thursday. The stock indexes of the four major eurozone economies and the UK, which rose together for two consecutive days, fell overall this week.

In various sectors of the Stoxx 600, property stocks sensitive to interest rates fell nearly 3%, leading the way. Among the constituent stocks, Vonovia, a German listed company whose rating was downgraded by Morgan Stanley, fell sharply by 7.2%. Meanwhile, the medical sector rose nearly 0.5%. Novo Nordisk, the highest market value pharmaceutical company in Europe listed in Denmark, rose 1.1%, achieving new highs in both itself and the Danish stock market. The technology sector rose by nearly 0.4%, with ASML, the highest market value technology stock in Europe listed in the Netherlands, rising nearly 0.2%, achieving new highs in both itself and the Dutch stock market for three consecutive days.

The Stoxx 600 index rose by about 1% this week after two weeks of decline. Most national stock indexes rose. The German and French stocks, which had fallen for three weeks in a row, and the Italian stocks, which had surged last week, held steady. The Spanish stock index continued to rise for two weeks, while the British stock index had fallen for four weeks in a row.

Among the various sectors, the technology sector, which fell nearly 3.5% last week, rebounded strongly this week, with a cumulative gain of more than 6%, leading the gains. ASML rose sharply by 10.1% throughout the week, while the medical sector rose more than 3%, with Novo Nordisk up by 6.1% throughout the week. However, commodity stocks in sectors such as oil and gas and mining, which were dragged down by cumulative price declines in commodities, saw the biggest declines. The basic resources sector with oil and gas and mining stocks fell by 3.1% and 2.9% respectively, while the property sector fell by 1.8% this week due to a sharp fall on Friday.

After the US employment report, the US Treasury yields rose more than 10 basis points, but the ten-year yield fell throughout the week.

Before the non-farm payroll report, the yield on US 10-year benchmark bonds hit a daily low. After the report was released, it quickly rose above 4.40%, with the US stocks rising to above 4.43% in early trading, and rising nearly 15 basis points during the day, far away from the low since April 1 that had been refreshing for two consecutive days after falling below 4.28% on Thursday. The opening gains of US stocks narrowed slightly and still remained above 4.40%, and at the end of the bond market, it was about 4.43%. It rose more than 14 basis points during the day, rose for two consecutive days after five consecutive decreases, and the cumulative decrease this week was about 7 basis points, falling back after rising for two weeks.

The yield on the 2-year US Treasury bonds that are more sensitive to the interest rate prospect refreshed the daily low in Asian trading before the release of the employment report, and quickly rose above 4.80% afterwards. The US stock market expanded its gains at noon and rose above 4.88% at the end of the market, far away from the low since the US CPI announcement on April 9, after four consecutive declines refreshing the low since May 16th. At the end of the bond market, it was about 4.89%. After roughly flat on Thursday, it rose by about 17 basis points during the day, rebounding after the recent eight trading days of decline, and rising by about 2 basis points cumulatively this week after falling back last week.

After the employment report, the US dollar index sharply rose to a new high of more than a week, and bitcoin rose to approach the 72,000 key level before falling more than $3000 during trading hours.

The ICE US dollar index (DXY) that tracks the basket exchange rate of six major currencies including the euro and the European market has fallen several times in the morning of the Asian market. It fell below 104.00 in the European market early, extremely close to the low since April 9. After the US non-farm payroll report was released, the US stock market rose rapidly. In the early trading session, the US stock market rose above 104.90, approaching 104.95 during noon trading, refreshing the high since May 30, and rising more than 0.8% during the day.

At the end of Friday's foreign exchange market, the US dollar index was above 104.90, up 0.8% during the day after falling back on Thursday, and up about 0.2% this week after falling back last week. Bloomberg's US dollar spot index that tracks the exchange rate of the US dollar against the other ten currencies rose by 0.8% during the day and rose for two consecutive days, at a high level since May 1, up nearly 0.9% this week and rising for two consecutive weeks.

Among non-US currencies, the euro against the US dollar and the British pound against the US dollar both fell sharply after the employment report. The euro fell below 1.0800 at noon in the US stock market, refreshed the low since May 30, and fell by 0.8% during the day. The British pound fell below 1.2720 in the US stock market early, refreshing the low since Monday this week, and fell by nearly 0.6% during the day; the yen rebounded on Thursday and fell during trading hours. The US dollar against the yen quickly rose after the employment report, with the US stock market rising to above 157.00 in early trading and returning to the level during Monday's trading hours, pulling away from the low since May 16, which was broken on Tuesday, and rising by more than 0.9% during the day.

During the non-farm payroll report, the offshore renminbi (CNH) against the US dollar refreshed the daily high to 7.2474 before diving and falling after the report was released. In the US stock market early trading, it refreshed the daily low to 7.2654, falling 180 points from its daily high and failing to approach the intraday high since May 21 when it rose above 7.24. At 4:59 am on June 8th Beijing time, the offshore renminbi against the US dollar was quoted at 7.2631, down 38 points from the New York closing on Thursday, with a slight cumulative weekly drop of 1 point, failing to reverse the downward trend last week.

Bitcoin (BTC) has risen above $71,900 in the European stock market, refreshing the high since May 20, and shook down after the release of the US non-farm payrolls report. The US stock market accelerated its decline during trading hours and fell below $70,000 at noon, once falling to around $68,500, down more than $3000 or nearly 5% from its daily high. It closed slightly higher than $69,000 at the end of the US stock market, down nearly 2% in the last 24 hours and up more than 2% in the last seven days. Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization after bitcoin, has been trading lower than $3620 in the US stock market at noon, tested below $3600 on some platforms, refreshing the low since May 21st, and fell by about 6% from its intra-day high in the European stock market, below $3680 at the end of the US stock market, down nearly 3% in the last 24 hours and down more than 2% in the last seven days.

London Zinc fell by nearly 5%, LME Copper fell by more than 4%, Gold hit the largest decline in more than two years, and Silver fell by more than 6%.

The futures of London's basic metals have fallen back after rebounding on Thursday, with at least a drop of nearly 2%. Zinc fell by more than 4.9%, hitting the largest drop since October 2022 and the new low since early April, and zinc and nickel fell for the sixth consecutive trading day in the last seven trading days. Copper fell by 3.8%, just recovering the $10,000 mark on Thursday, and closing below $9800, hitting the low since late April. Nickel fell by 2.7% to the low since mid-April. Aluminum fell to the low since mid-May. Zinc gave back most of its gains of nearly 3% on Thursday, approaching the low since early May on Wednesday.

Due to Friday's decline, the basic metals have collectively fallen this week. London nickel fell by about 8.5%, and London zinc, which fell by more than 6.8%, and London tin, which fell by 4.8%, all fell for three consecutive weeks. London copper and London aluminum fell nearly 2.8%, falling for three and two consecutive weeks, respectively. London lead fell by over 3%, falling for two consecutive weeks.

After two consecutive days of rising, the New York copper futures fell sharply. When the daily low was refreshed in the session, it fell below $4.4470, or almost 5% during the day. Ultimately, the COMEX July copper futures closed down nearly 4.2% at $4.4835 per pound, hitting the lowest level since April 24, with a cumulative decline of nearly 2.6% this week, falling for three consecutive weeks.

After the US employment report, the gold price declined rapidly. At the end of US stock market, spot gold fell below $2,290, hitting a one-month low, falling more than 3.7% during that day, which was the biggest intraday drop since March 2022. The New York gold futures fell to nearly $2,304 after the US stock market closed, down about 3.6% during the day.

As of the US stock market's midday gold closing, the COMEX August gold futures, which had risen for two consecutive days to a two-week high since May 22, closed down nearly 2.8%, with a largest closing drop in the main contract since April 22, 2022, at $2,325 per ounce, hitting the lowest level since May 8. With a cumulative decline of nearly 0.9% this week, it fell back after last week's rebound.

After the US stock market closed, the New York silver futures refreshed its daily low at $29.22, falling by more than 6.8% during the day. At the closing of the US stock market, the COMEX July silver futures fell more than 6.1% to $29.44 per ounce, hitting the lowest level since May 14, with a cumulative decline of nearly 3.9% this week and having fallen for three consecutive weeks.

Crude oil slightly turned downwards and fell for three consecutive weeks. US natural gas rebounded by nearly 13% this week.

International crude oil futures fluctuated and fell several times during the day. At the beginning of the European session, US WTI crude oil approached $75.20, a decrease of nearly 0.5% during the day; Brent crude oil approached $79.30, a decrease of nearly 0.7% during the day. When the US stock market soared in the morning, the US oil rose above $76.20, an increase of more than 0.9% during the day; Brent oil approached $80.40, an increase of more than 0.6% during the day, it then fell multiple times. Eventually, oil rebounded for three consecutive days before falling slightly, failing to break away from the lowest closing price since early February, which has been refreshed 5 times this week. The price for WTI July crude oil futures fell by 0.02 dollars, a decline of more than 0.02%, and was $75.53 per barrel; the price for Brent August crude oil futures fell by 0.25 dollars, a decline of more than 0.31%, and was $79.62 per barrel.

Finally, oil rebounded for two consecutive days and then slightly fell, failing to continue rising beyond the lowest closing price since early February, which was refreshed on the fifth trading day this week. The WTI crude oil futures for July fell by 0.02 US dollars, a decline of more than 0.02%, to $75.53 per barrel; the Brent August crude oil futures fell by 0.25 US dollars, a decline of more than 0.31%, to $79.62 per barrel.

This week, US oil plunged about 1.9%, and Brent oil fell more than 1.8%, both of which fell for three consecutive weeks. Brent oil has fallen for the fifth week in the past six weeks. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Palestine conflict, US oil has fallen for 20 consecutive weeks, and Brent oil has fallen for 17 consecutive weeks. The reason for the cumulative decline in oil prices this week is mainly due to the sharp drop on Monday, when it fell more than 3%, which is the largest daily drop since January 8 when Saudi Arabia unexpectedly lowered its official crude oil selling price to Asia.

US gasoline and natural gas futures rose and fell unevenly. After falling to a low of over two months on Monday, the NYMEX July gasoline futures rose for three consecutive days, down over 0.6% during the day, at $2.3826 per gallon, with a cumulative decline of about 1.4% this week and having fallen for three consecutive weeks; The NYMEX July natural gas futures rose 3.44% to $2.9180 per million British thermal units, rising for three consecutive days, hitting the highest level since May 23, and having risen about 12.8% this week after falling for two consecutive weeks.

Editor/Emily