Soft September jobs report sends stocks higher, Treasury yields lower

U.S. stocks opened higher in the October 2 session after the September jobs report came in cooler than forecast, a reading that investors took as evidence the labor market is slowing without breaking down. Lower hiring numbers reduced bets that the Federal Reserve will need to keep raising rates, and odds of a near-term hike fell sharply. The reaction showed up most clearly in bonds: Treasury yields fell as traders reassessed the path for rates, and that drop in borrowing costs helped lift equity prices across the board. Nvidia touched a fresh all-time high of $236.57 during the session, one sign that risk appetite was returning even as other pockets of the market, including regional banks and some consumer names, continued to trade near 52-week lows. The report described hiring as cooler but stable, not weak enough to signal recession risk, which is why stocks rallied rather than sold off on bad news. What remains unresolved is whether the Fed reads the same data the same way; the central bank's next policy meeting will show whether its own rate projections move as far as the bond market has already priced in.