It was a volatile week on Wall Street, with the final two sessions delivering jolts to an AI-driven rally that had looked unstoppable.
On Friday, the Nasdaq 100 — tracked by the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) — recorded its worst drop since April 2025’s ‘Liberation Day’ selloff sparked by Trump-related tariffs, while the S&P 500 — tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) — snapped nine straight weeks of gains, its longest streak since 2023.
The risk sentiment sank amid two key catalysts.
First came Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO). The chipmaker giant beat expectations last quarter and guided next-quarter sales to $29.4 billion, above the Street’s $28.6 billion.
Yet CEO Hock Tan kept full-year Al semiconductor guidance unchanged at “in excess of $100 billion,” puncturing sky-high expectations.
Near-perfect results were not enough for Wall Street, with the stock collapsing 12.6% Thursday and over 7% on Friday, dragging the entire Al infrastructure complex with it.
The semiconductor sector – tracked via the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SOXX) – tumbled more than 10% between Thursday and Friday, on track for its worst two-day drop since April 2025’s tariff shock.
Chart: Broadcom’s Selloff Drag Semiconductor Sector Lower
Hot Jobs Data Sparks Rate-Hike Fears
Then came the May jobs report.
Payrolls rose 172,000 versus an 85,000 consensus, with March and April revised up by a combined 93,000. Unemployment held at 4.3%.
Good news has become bad news for markets. Hotter-than-expected hiring, layered on top of April CPI at 3.8% year-over-year – the hottest since May 2023 – pushed the bond market to bet the next Federal Reserve move is up, not down.
Money markets now almost fully price a rate hike by year-end.
Crypto Bloodbath Deepens
The carnage was deepest in digital assets. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) plunged below $60,000, a 17% weekly drop, its worst since November 2022, when Sam Bankman-Fried‘s FTX collapsed.
Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) – formerly MicroStrategy, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder with over 843,000 coins — dropped roughly 25% on the week.
Chairman Michael Saylor disclosed the sale of 32 Bitcoin for $2.5 million between May 26 and 31, his first sale since December 2022, breaking the “never sell” mantra he had long preached.
Ford Snaps A Four-Week Streak
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) recorded one of its worst weeks in years, shedding 15% after a four-week winning streak.
The Detroit automaker is recalling nearly 420,000 Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs (model years 2018-2022) — about 14,000 in Canada — over a seat belt pretensioner defect that can lock the belt and raise injury risk in crashes.
Volatility is back, the Fed-hike narrative is rising, the Al rally is being repriced, and Bitcoin’s bid has broken.
After nine weeks straight up, the market needed a reason to pause. It found several at once.
Photo: Shutterstock
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