S&P 500 rallies as blowout jobs report showing easing wages fuel soft landing bets
Investing.com — The S&P 500 rallied Friday after rebounding from lows as stocks shrugged off rising Treasury yields after data showing stronger-than-expected job gains, but cooling wage gains stoked investor expectations that the economy can avoid a recession.
The S&P 500 rose 1.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%, 417 points, Nasdaq rose 1.7%.
The U.S. economy created 336,000 jobs in September, the Labor Department reported on Friday, well above expectations for 170,000. But the average hourly earnings unexpectedly slowed to 0.2% for the month and 4.2% on annualized basis in September, easing fears about a tight labor market boosting wages and inflation.
The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.8%, compared with expectations for 3.7%.
«The silver lining is that we didn't see a lot of kick up in wages because that is ultimately what will affect costs and drive-up inflation» Randy Krozner, former Fed governor told Bloomberg in an interview Friday following the jobs report.
Others agree, with Scotiabank economics saying in a Friday note “what the FOMC may focus upon more than jobs is the fact that average hourly earnings have hit a new soft patch in Goldilocks fashion.”
Treasury yields retreated from session highs, but upside was supported by growing bets on another Federal Reserve rate hike by the end of year ticked higher.
The 10-Year Treasury yield was up by 6.5 basis points at 4.779% after hitting a high of 4.892%, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury climbed by 6.3 basis points to 5.088% after hitting high of 5.151%.
Odds for a December rate hike jumped to nearly 40% on Friday from about 31% a day earlier, according to the Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Tech rallied nearly 2% pushing the
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