NEW YORK, Oct. 2 — U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, as a weaker-than-expected jobs report for September bolstered bets that the Federal Reserve will hold off on raising interest rates this month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 250 points, or 0.49 percent, to close at 51,176.96. The S&P 500 gained 0.7 percent, rising 56.27 to 7,722.72, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.19 percent, adding 319.27 to 27,190.86, hitting an all-time high earlier in the day before pulling back.
Ten of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with consumer discretionary, materials and technology each rising about 1 percent or more.
Health care was the only sector in the red. U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 jobs in September, falling far short of expectations, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. U.S. Treasury yields whipsawed after the jobs data.
The benchmark 10-year yield initially tumbled to 5.16 percent, then reversed course to approach 5.3 percent late in the day.
The two-year yield hovered around 4.73 percent, while the 30-year yield held near 5.63 percent. Oil prices fell after the Group of Seven nations and the European Union (EU) agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel from emergency reserves, under a French proposal pairing 50 million barrels of diesel from the EU with 50 million barrels of crude from the International Energy Agency.
The EU separately rejected a proposed ban on diesel exports. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.76 U.S. dollars to settle at 91.11 U.S. dollars a barrel, while Brent crude bounced off its lows to trade near 102.25 dollars.
“Today’s soft payroll report demonstrates that the labor market is simmering, not boiling, which should bolster the case for the Fed to remain on hold at the October meeting,” said Jeff Schulze, head investment strategist at the Franklin Templeton Institute.
After the nonfarm payrolls report, traders now see about a 22-percent chance of a rate hike at the Fed’s Oct. 27-28 meeting, down from about 64 percent a week ago, according to CME FedWatch.
On the corporate front, Nike tumbled about 3.6 percent after fiscal first-quarter revenue of 11.21 billion dollars missed estimates, down 4 percent from a year earlier, and the company forecasted full-year revenue to fall by high single digits while announcing job cuts.
Teradyne jumped 8 percent amid strong chip-testing demand and upbeat semiconductor sector outlook. Tesla shares gained 4.65 percent despite a 2 percent drop in third-quarter deliveries.
Nvidia, AMD, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks all closed at all-time highs, while Seagate and Western Digital tumbled on a report of increased hard-disk-drive supply from Toshiba. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
