Stock Market Today: Nasdaq flirts with new record, Dow and S&P rise after soft jobs report, but Treasury yields reverse higher

Stocks rallied Friday after September's soft jobs report, with the Nasdaq Composite closing just shy of a record high. The Dow and S&P 500 also rose, extending the session's risk-on tone.

Bond markets told a more complicated story. Treasury yields initially fell on the weak payrolls print, then reversed higher. That sequence matters: the first move priced the report as a softening labor market that could pull rate expectations lower, while the reversal suggests buyers of Treasuries did not hold that view through the session.

Interpretation: the divergence between equities and bonds points to a market that likes the growth-slowdown-without-disaster narrative but is not convinced the data changes the rate outlook enough to sustain lower yields. Equities are reading the soft report as supportive. Bonds are reading it as insufficient, or are being driven by other forces the headline does not specify.

The Nasdaq Composite's finish just below its record leaves it within reach of a fresh high, a level traders typically treat as a technical trigger. Index strength alongside rising yields is a combination that can strain valuations if yields keep climbing, particularly for growth-heavy benchmarks like the Nasdaq.