Weak US Jobs Data Cuts Fed Hike Odds, Lifting Equity Indexes

US equity indexes advanced on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite leading the three benchmark gauges, after a weak September jobs report reduced the probability of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in October. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to 27,159.5, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 7,716.1, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% to 51,104.6 ahead of the close. All but two sectors posted gains, with consumer discretionary, materials, and technology leading the advance.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls increased by 29,000 in September, a figure below the 90,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The agency also revised August job growth downward to an increase of 133,000 and adjusted July payrolls lower to a decrease of 10,000, resulting in a net reduction of 60,000 jobs over that period. This data shift prompted traders to lower the estimated probability of the Federal Reserve raising its target rate by 25 basis points in October to 22%, down from 64% a week earlier, according to the FedWatch tool. The remaining 78% likelihood indicates that rates will remain unchanged in the 3.75% to 4.00% range.

In energy markets, the front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract fell 1.6% to $91.41 per barrel. Conversely, the global benchmark North Sea Brent rose 0.1% to $102.44 per barrel, recovering from intraday declines. The Group of Seven agreed to release 100 million barrels of energy reserves immediately over four months to help ease price pressures. A G7 statement noted that the plan includes a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days by G7 members and partners.

Nvidia's (NVDA) DGX Spark personal AI computer will be available in a new 64-gigabyte unified-memory configuration from Acer, Asus, Dell (DELL), Gigabyte, HP (HPQ), and MSI starting October 23. The company stated on Friday that prices for the new configuration start at $4,999. Nvidia shares traded up 1.6% after reaching an all-time high earlier in the session.