Stock Market Today (Oct. 2, 2026): Dow rises after key jobs report
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Happy Friday. Stocks were rising, with the Nasdaq reaching an intraday high, as Wall Street digested a key jobs report.
September’s nonfarm payrolls report showed U.S. employers added 29,000 jobs, less than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%. The Dow Jones consensus called for job growth of 84,000 and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%.
“The unemployment rate edged up as more people entered the labor force, but the unemployment-and-underemployment rate edged lower, taking some sting out of the headline,” said Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank.
Adams said evidence of AI’s impact on the job market is mixed. Employment is falling in industries that are aggressively adopting AI technology, but at the same time, employment of the technical workers who make the AI widgets spin is rising.
“For the Fed, the mediocre September jobs report isn’t bad enough to shift the focus away from inflation,” he said. “Their next decision in late October is live, in our view, and will probably be swayed by the September CPI and PPI reports, geopolitical developments, and prices at the pump between now and then.”
Treasury yields tumbled Friday after the weaker-than-expected jobs report, as investors reassessed the outlook for a Federal Reserve rate hike this month.
Nvidia (NVDA) reached a new all-time intraday high of $237.88, pushing its market capitalization past $5.7 trillion as investors continued to pile into AI.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has sent 9,000 U.S. troops to the Middle East after warning that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon.
Markets finished slightly higher Thursday, kicking off the new month with modest gains.
Markets finished slightly higher Thursday, kicking off the new month with modest gains.
“Wall Street closed flat following a see-sawing session driven by bond market volatility and another jump in oil prices,” Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst with Capital.com, said.
Rodda said the move in long-term yields to fresh multidecade highs was compounded by ISM Manufacturing data showing building cost pressures in the U.S. economy. The rise in yields was short-lived, he said, as a retracement in rates took pressure off the market.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Oct 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Stock Market Today section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.