The Closing Bell
A jobs report so weak it was bullish sent the Nasdaq to fresh records while Nike (NKE) got buried under a pile of broker downgrades, proof that this market is now trading two completely different economies at once.
The weak jobs print is the whole story.
Nonfarm payrolls came in at just 29,000 with private payrolls at 46,000, unemployment ticked up to 4.2%, and wage growth stayed tame at 0.1% month over month. Traders read the soft labor data as cover for the Fed to stand pat, and risk assets ran with it. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said a hike or a pause is "on the table" but stressed inflation matters more than labor right now, a framing the market chose to hear as dovish. The S&P 500 proxy (SPY) added 0.7% and the Nasdaq-tracking QQQ gained 1%, both closing at or near records, while long bonds (TLT) slipped 0.3% and gold (GLD) eased 0.7% as the safety bid faded.
AI capex is still the market's engine.
Nvidia (NVDA) shares hit all-time highs after the board approved a massive $150 billion buyback, and the stock added another 1.3% on the day. Broadcom (AVGO) jumped 3.3% on news it will finance up to $60 billion in chips for Anthropic, a deal that also lifted Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) and rippled through the entire semiconductor complex, from ASML to Qualcomm to Texas Instruments. Reports that Samsung may triple HBM memory prices in 2027 only reinforced the pricing-power narrative. Data-center infrastructure names from Vertiv to Caterpillar (CAT) to GE Vernova caught a bid on the same logic, with easing rate-hike anxiety acting as a tailwind for the leveraged, capex-heavy names building out the buildout.
Autos and footwear split the tape.
Tesla (TSLA) surged 4.6% on Q3 production and delivery numbers, and Rivian (RIVN) reported deliveries up 46%, even as Ford posted a 6.6% sales decline tied to model phase-outs and Li Auto (LI) hit a 52-week low on weak September China deliveries. SpaceX stock jumped 7.3% after a record-setting ISS launch and word that Alphabet's (GOOGL) $920 million data center contract with the company kicked off October 1, lifting Rocket Lab in sympathy. Nike was the session's biggest single-name loser, down 3.3% after a wave of price-target cuts from UBS, Goldman, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Telsey. Boeing (BA) drew fresh scrutiny on a 737 MAX software bulletin, though the FAA said the glitch isn't a safety issue.
After the bell and tomorrow.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP pared earlier gains and crypto-linked names from Coinbase to Futu turned lower into the close. Gemini Space Station fell after filing a $100 million shelf offering, Blue Owl saw investors try to pull 39% from a $5 billion tech credit fund, and Mercer International slid after disclosing it will skip an interest payment. Watch Monday for any follow-through in rate expectations and whether the Broadcom-driven chip rally holds.
Bottom line: a soft jobs report bought the Fed room to pause and the market cashed it in for new highs, but the gains are concentrated in AI infrastructure while consumer-facing names like Nike are left paying the bill.