US Stocks Bounce Back on Weaker Jobs Report, Fed Rate Hike Odds Fall
The US stock market opened on Friday with gains after a weaker-than-expected jobs report provided some relief to investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 200 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.3%.
The US economy added only 29,000 jobs in September, which is below the expected range of 84,000-85,000 jobs. This led to a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2% from 4.1%. The Labor Department reported these numbers, and they surprised markets after stronger hiring in August.
The data showed that the US labor market is losing momentum, which may lead investors to expect the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged at its October meeting. Treasury yields fell after the jobs report, with the 10-year US Treasury yield dropping more than 5 basis points to 5.176%.
The fall in yields supported technology and growth stocks, such as Nvidia, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and AMD, which moved higher. Some of these shares touched record levels, and Intel and AMD shares gained more than 3%.