GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks fall sharply as strong jobs data fuels rate hike bets; oil set for weekly gain
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Updates throughout, adds oil settlement and analyst quote
By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - Shares fell sharply on Friday after a blowout jobs report fueled bets of a rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve and as investors turned defensive ahead of the weekend, wary of the flare-up in Middle East hostilities.
Iran reaffirmed support for the Hezbollah militia and demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, complicating efforts to end the broader conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Israel has said it would not withdraw troops from Lebanon.
On Wall Street, all three indexes were lower, led by a selloff in technology shares, including AI chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O. Shares in Broadcom AVGO.O were down nearly 7%, continuing losses since the semiconductor company reported underwhelming results on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1%, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.4% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dipped 4%.
Data showed U.S. employers added far more jobs than expected in May, bolstering bets that the Fed could raise rates late this year.
U.S. Treasury yields surged following the report, with the yield on the 2-year note US2YT=RR, which typically moves in step with Fed rate expectations, hitting a 15-month high. It was last at 4.164%.
"We're talking about a strong economy," said Gary Schlossberg, market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
"That just adds to inflation risk coming from the Gulf. It makes it difficult for the Fed to even think about rate cuts and might even increase the chances — although we're still not forecasting that yet — of a rate hike by the Fed before the end of the year against the backdrop of inflation."
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX eased 0.29%. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS fell 2.23%.
"There are some near-term pressures on the short end of the curve and it's largely because of the geopolitical impact on the price of oil and headline inflation but looking through that, we also understand that these pressures tend to be temporary and calm back down," said Talley Leger, chief market strategist at the Wealth Consulting Group.
OIL SET FOR WEEKLY GAIN
Oil prices slipped after Oman said operations at Mina al Fahal port were proceeding normally following a Reuters report that oil loadings had been suspended after an explosion.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 2% to settle at $93.09 a barrel and U.S. crude CLc1 dipped 2.69% to $90.54 per barrel, with both contracts set to post their first weekly gains in three weeks.
In currencies, the yen JPY= settled around the 160 per dollar level and was last down 0.09% at 160.12, as Japanese officials ramped up warnings about the ailing currency, keeping traders on alert for further intervention from Tokyo.
Data on Friday showed Japan's foreign reserves fell by $77 billion in May.
The euro EUR= was down 0.74% at $1.1523. Sterling GBP= weakened 0.64% to $1.3334.
The dollar index =USD was on track to gain 0.62%, supported by the Middle East conflict.
Cryptocurrencies extended recent declines, with bitcoin BTC= shedding 6.04% to $59,746.51 and heading for a weekly decline of nearly 18%, its biggest since the week FTX collapsed in November 2022, while ether ETH= declined 12.02% to $1,559.57.
Spot gold XAU= fell 3.49% to $4,317.64 an ounce.
