US payroll surprise fuels forex and crypto volatility ahead of Fed Chair Warsh's first meeting

May nonfarm payrolls surged to 172,000, far above the 85,000 consensus, and the April figure was revised up to 179,000. The unemployment rate held at 4.3% and wage growth eased to 3.4%, prompting the US Dollar Index to jump above 99.5, Treasury yields to rise and risk assets to slip. Meanwhile, Iran‑US Hormuz diplomacy stalled, with Tehran denying progress and Hezbollah rejecting a US‑mediated Israel‑Lebanon ceasefire, adding uncertainty to oil markets.

In the cryptocurrency arena, MicroStrategy sold 32 Bitcoin, triggering a cascade of liquidations and contributing to a multi‑month low in Bitcoin prices. Ethereum traded around $1,770, largely unchanged as markets await the first Federal Reserve meeting chaired by Kevin Warsh on June 17. Traders price in a 50.5% chance of at least one rate hike in 2026, and large ETH holders have accumulated more than 500,000 ETH since early June, while spot Ether ETFs recently recorded $22.5 million in net inflows.