Market Open: Stocks Higher as Weak Jobs Report Seen Holding Rates Steady • 10/2/26

0:00CNBC Business News Update Market Open. I'm Jessica Ettinger. Wall Street is higher out of the gate today. Bond yields were pulling back on much weaker than expected September jobs numbers. A roller coaster for the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. It had been over 5.3 % today, down to 5.2. The Dow up 222 points, almost a half percent. NVIDIA shares leading it higher. The chipmaker's up almost 3 percent this morning. Caterpillar shares up 2 percent. The S &P 500 index is up 58 points. The Nasdaq's up 359 points. Investors are taking a bad jobs report as good news, believing that the data mean the Fed will not raise interest rates at its meeting later this month.

0:51Raising rates is a blunt instrument to slow the economy, to fight inflation, but it can also hurt the labor market, and investors are betting the Fed's not going to want to do that. CNBC's Rick Santelli has 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 unemployment rate went up last month to 4.2 percent. And August jobs numbers were revised downward. July 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.

1:30Year 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. So families are getting squeezed. Wage gains are at their lowest in more than five years at 3%, 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.

2:16Oil 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, Emre, to Send, 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. It 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.

2:53The 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. EV maker Rivian delivered more cars than expected in the last quarter. It's confirmed its full year guidance. EV maker Tesla also delivered more vehicles than expected last quarter, but there was still fewer than the same quarter last year. Nike shares are lower today on a weak revenue outlook. It reported quarterly results last night after the closing bell.

3:31Nike has cut thousands of jobs this year, but it's looking for more savings and will cut more jobs next year in a restructuring. New in theaters for the weekend, Warner Brothers' Digger and Amazon's thriller Verity. Jessica Edinger, CNBC. Hey, Fidelity. Can I get a second opinion on stocks in the Fidelity app?

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