Wall Street Cheers Sharp Cooling in US Jobs as Big Tech Jumps [New York Stock Briefing]

September Payrolls Rise by 29,000, Far Below Market Forecast of 90,000

Tesla Jumps 4.7%, Nvidia Rises 1.3%; Nike Falls 3.6%

Major US stock indexes ended higher across the board. Investor sentiment improved after US job growth in September came in far below market expectations, bolstering hopes that the Federal Reserve is less likely to raise interest rates again this month.

On October 2, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 250.40 points, or 0.49%, to 51,176.96 on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 gained 56.27 points, or 0.73%, to 7,722.72, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 319.27 points, or 1.19%, to 27,190.86. The small-cap Russell 2000 also rose 0.9%, its biggest one-day gain in a month.

The jobs data drove the rally. The US Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls increased by just 29,000 in September, less than one-third of the market forecast for 90,000. August payroll growth was also revised down to 133,000 from 162,000.

The unemployment rate rose to 4.2% in September from 4.1% in August. Average hourly earnings increased 3.0% from a year earlier, easing from 3.1% the previous month. The cooling in both hiring and wage growth reinforced the view that the need for another rate increase has diminished.

The CME FedWatch tool showed the probability of a 0.25-percentage-point rate hike this month fell to 22.7% from 64.2% a week earlier. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell below 5.17% immediately after the jobs report, then rebounded to 5.28% as oil prices pared losses.

Among large-cap technology stocks, Nvidia rose 1.3%, helping lead the S&P 500 higher. Tesla jumped 4.7% after third-quarter vehicle deliveries of 486,532 topped market expectations. The consumer discretionary sector gained 1.4%, the biggest advance among the S&P 500's 11 sectors, aided by Tesla's rally.

Nike, by contrast, fell 3.6% on weak demand in China and a forecast for an annual sales decline. Western Digital and Seagate Technology each tumbled about 10% after news that Japan's Toshiba would expand hard-disk production capacity for artificial intelligence data centers.

For the week, the major indexes were mixed. The S&P 500 fell 0.27% and the Dow lost 1.26%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.45%. The Dow and the S&P 500 have each posted weekly declines in four of the past five weeks.

Lee Song-ryeol, Hankyung.com reporter yisr0203@hankyung.com