Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The S&P 500 edged higher on Friday after a disappointing jobs report left investors wondering about the future direction of interest rates.
The Composite Index rose 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 170 points, or 0.4%, after surging more than 300 points to its session high.
Stocks initially rose after data showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 254,000 jobs in September, far exceeding the 150,000 increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. did. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, despite expectations that it would remain stable at 4.2%.
But the blockbuster report sent stocks to new highs as investors realized the Fed was less likely to cut interest rates by another half point in November, which traders had been hoping for. . Rising bond yields also capped the upside, with the 10-year bond yield at one point nearing 4%.
“The Fed shouldn’t rush into a campaign now to get interest rates closer to neutral next year,” said Jason Pride, head of investment strategy and research at Glenmede. “It doesn’t look like the bottom of the labor market has fallen out.”
Tesla, Amazon and Netflix were among the big tech stocks that rose on Friday, which may partially explain the Nasdaq’s outperformance. Meanwhile, small-cap stocks also rose, with the Russell 2000 up more than 1%.
But Friday’s rebound was not enough to erase the losses seen in recent days. Escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East got stocks off to a shaky start in October, a turnaround after the market had an unusually strong first nine months of the year.
All three major indexes are poised to extend their three-week winning streaks. The Dow and Nasdaq each fell 0.3% for the week. The S&P 500 was expected to fall 0.2%.
Oil prices rose again on Friday, up nearly 9% since the beginning of the week. Oil prices have risen as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East following Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Energy stocks soared this week as oil prices rose, with the S&P 500 index up 6.8%. This puts the group on pace to record its biggest weekly profit in almost two years.
