Wall Street Retreats Amid Cooling Tech Rally and Strong Jobs Data, with Nvidia and Broadcom Leading Declines

Wall Street Benchmarks Decline as Semiconductor Pullback Halts Recent Gains

On Friday, Wall Street benchmarks declined as a pullback in semiconductor equities halted recent gains, while robust employment data solidified expectations for sustained Federal Reserve monetary tightening. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% as of 9:59 a.m. Eastern Time, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite declining 1.8%.

The opening bell saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise 48.1 points, or 0.09%, to 51,610.02. However, the S&P 500 fell 47.0 points, or 0.62%, to 7,537.36, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 294.4 points, or 1.10%, to 26,536.59. Leading the market downturn, Nvidia fell 3.1% while Broadcom dropped 3.9%.

The Labor Department reported an unexpected surge of 172,000 positions in May, demonstrating resilient hiring trends despite inflationary pressures impacting corporate and retail sectors. Simultaneously, energy costs persisted at high levels due to the ongoing closure of the critical Strait of Hormuz transit corridor, worsening conflict-driven supply disruptions that endanger global growth and elevate inflation.

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The robust US employment figures intensified expectations that the US central bank will potentially increase borrowing costs this year, leading to a decline in bullion gold prices. At 10:15 a.m. EDT (14:15 GMT), spot gold was down 2.4% at $4,365.93 per ounce. US gold futures for August delivery fell 2.5% to $4,390.70. Among other metals, spot silver fell 6.1% to $69.34 per ounce, platinum dropped 3.2% to $1,839.40, and palladium slid 1.9% to $1,295.75.