The Federal Reserve debate shifted further toward a September interest-rate hike after August payrolls increased by 162,000, far above Bloomberg survey estimates and expectations of roughly 50,000. June and July payrolls were revised up by a combined 55,000, while unemployment held at 4.1% despite a 683,000 increase in the labor force. Two-year Treasury yields rose as much as eight basis points, and markets assigned a 59% probability to a 25-basis-point increase at the Federal Open Market Committee’s next meeting. The S&P 500 fell 0.38%, while bitcoin dropped nearly 3% below $80,000. Brent crude traded above $97 after US-Iranian attacks on shipping, although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said oil could fall to $40-$50 once the conflict ends. In crypto, the administration is pursuing a compliant US access route for Hyperliquid, Router Protocol will shut down and burn 303.3 million ROUTE tokens, and Liquid Network paused operations after roughly 4,000 BTC was withdrawn from its federation wallet. Earlier data showed 7.27 million JOLTS job openings, while the ISM manufacturing index remained in expansion at 54.6.