Market Midday: Stocks Higher, Bond Yields Rise Again, Weak Jobs Report • 10/2/26

0:00CNBC Business News Update Market Midday. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street's higher this afternoon. Bond yields have reversed course, though. They pulled back this morning on the weak jobs report. They're back up a little bit this afternoon. The yield on the 10-year Treasury now at 5.26 percent, aiming back for 5.3. The Dow is up 174 points. Cisco shares leading it higher. They're up 2.5 percent. The S &P 500 index adding 55. That's three quarters of a percent. The Nasdaq's up 335 points, one and a quarter percent. Companies whose shares have hit fresh all-time highs today include NVIDIA, the first high for the AI chip maker since last May.

0:45Highs today also for AMD, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and CrowdStrike. Investors taking a bad jobs report as good news, believing that the data mean the Fed will not raise interest rates at its meeting later on this month. But a note of caution from CNBC's Mike Santoli. The textbook would suggest you get relief on yields and it's going to create a flush higher in some of the kind of beaten up areas of the market. It's not really happening. And I think it's because the yield response has not been particularly strong. I mean, definitely yields are off the boil. Yesterday we had some relief as well.

1:21But two-year yields only down a couple of a couple of ticks. So it's not as if it's suggesting that we're unwinding this big move higher. Raising interest rates is a blunt instrument the Fed can use to slow the economy to fight inflation, but it can also hurt the labor market. Investors are betting the Fed's not going to do that. Here's CNBC's Rick Santelli with some of the numbers. For the September job, job, jobs report, a disappointment expecting 90 ,000 comes in at 29 ,000. The Labor Department says the The unemployment rate went up last month to 4.2 percent. And August jobs numbers were revised downward.

2:01July numbers were revised to the negative with a loss of 10 ,000 jobs in the U.S. And workers aren't getting pay raises that are keeping up with inflation. Year over year, average hourly earnings. This is a big miss, big, big miss. 3.0, that's the lightest going all the way back to May of 2021. A take now from Biden White House Treasury official Kitty Richards on CNBC. It turns out that last month's job report was not quite as rosy as it seemed. We've got unemployment ticking up slightly. It's true that, you know, this is a pretty steady labor market at this point, but it's not delivering wage gains that are keeping up with inflation.

2:39So families are getting squeezed. Wage gains are at their lowest in more than five years at three percent. inflation's running at about three and a half, leaving many Americans unable to keep up with expenses, pushing some to withdraw savings, 401k money, credit cards, and pay-in-for services. Oil prices are lower on a report of a potential release of diesel and crude from stockpiles in the European Union. Brent crude, the world's benchmark, below$100 a barrel today, but energy aspects, Emreita Sen, tells CNBC, that's still very high, and prices really aren't going to drop to where they were. Hormuz flows have definitely picked up.

3:18It hasn't helped oil prices down and I don't think it's going to help oil prices down. I mean, the reason prices haven't come down, the cost of crude to a refinery, which is what we care about because that's who makes our gasoline and diesel, has gone up five times. The U.S. is sending a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East in its war with Iran, Reports say a Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are heading to the region. That's another 9 ,000 Americans deployed to join, about 20 ,000 currently there. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Hey, Fidelity. How can I remember to invest every month?

3:58Jessica Ettinger: With the Fidelity app, you can choose a schedule and set up recurring investments in stocks and ETFs. Oh, that sounds easier than I thought. You got this. Yeah, I do. Now, where did I put my keys? You will find them where you left them. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE SIPC.