Stock Market Midday, Oct. 2: Stocks Rally as Weak Jobs Data Cools Fed Rate Hike Bets

Stocks rallied October 2 after a weak September jobs report slashed odds of a Fed rate hike this month, sending the Nasdaq Composite to a record high. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones also gained.

The data landed soft: nonfarm payrolls rose by only 29,000, and the unemployment rate climbed to 4.2%. Markets responded by repricing Fed policy. Expectations for a rate hike this month dropped from 64% to 21%, a 43-percentage-point swing in a single session.

Tech and growth shares led the move. Interpretation: a collapse in hike odds eases pressure on long-duration assets, which fits the Nasdaq outperforming. The record close suggests investors read the labor miss as relief on rates rather than a signal of economic distress, at least for now.

Names tied to the growth and tech trade, including TSLA, NVDA, ON, SYNA and IART, sit in the zone most sensitive to this repricing. That is an interpretation of the rate-driven rally, not a company-specific catalyst reported in the source.

The tension is clear: a 29,000-job print is weak enough to cool Fed hawkishness, but the rally depends on the market continuing to treat bad labor news as good rate news.