Wall St rises as weak jobs data cements rate-pause bets

Nov 3 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s three main indexes gained on Friday after data pointing to slowing job growth and an uptick in the unemployment rate boosted investor expectations that the Federal Reserve was done with its monetary policy tightening campaign.

The Labor Department’s report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 150,000 jobs in October, against expectations of a 180,000 increase, partly due to strikes at Detroit’s Big Three automakers.

Data for the last month was revised lower to show an increase of 297,000 instead of the 336,000 reported previously, while the unemployment rate edged up to 3.9% against expectations it would stay steady 3.8%.

The reading, which came on the heels of a mixed set of labor data this week, bolstered the view that the Fed had reached the end of its rate hikes.

“It (the report) is consistent with the views of the market that the job market and the economy is decelerating and that’s going to keep the Fed on hold and will cause central banks next year to cut rates,” said Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer at Infrastructure Capital Management.

Traders’ bets that the Federal Reserve would hold interest rates steady in December rose to 90% from around 83% before the data, while pricing in a rate cut possibility in May, against expectations in June earlier.

A slide in Treasury yields boosted most megacap growth stocks, with Tesla (TSLA.O), Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) up between 0.8% and 2.2%.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest in five weeks after the payrolls data and was last at 4.4921%.

Apple (AAPL.O) pared losses and was last down 1.9% after its sales forecast for the current quarter fell short of Wall Street expectations, even as an uptick in iPhone sales lifted fourth-quarter results above estimates.

Wall Street’s main indexes rallied on Thursday, with the S&P 500 (.SPX) logging its biggest one-day percentage gain since April.

The recent inflow of strong corporate updates have also kept the major indexes on track for their biggest weekly gain in about a year. Of the 376 firms in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, nearly 81% have beaten earnings estimates, as per LSEG data.

Most major S&P 500 sectors traded in the green, with real estate (.SPLRCR) leading gains, up 2.7%.

Meanwhile, the CBOE volatility index (.VIX) touched a fresh six-week low, last down 0.55 at 15.09 points.

At 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 149.26 points, or 0.44%, at 33,988.34, the S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 29.28 points, or 0.68%, at 4,347.06, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) was up 83.85 points, or 0.63%, at 13,378.04.

Among major movers, Fortinet (FTNT.O) dropped 17.3% as the cybersecurity firm forecast fourth-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.

Coinbase (COIN.O) shares fell 1.3% after the cryptocurrency exchange’s trading volumes declined for the second quarter in a row.

Block (SQ.N) jumped 14.1% after the payments firm raised its annual adjusted profit forecast.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 7.76-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.81-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 30 new lows.

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