Washington (United States) (AFP) – The New York Stock Exchange rose significantly on Friday, satisfied with the latest employment figures in the United States, the weakness of which gives arguments to the country's central bank (Fed) to wait before raising its key rates.
Published on: 02/10/2026 - 16:30
Around 2:10 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones gained 0.57%, the Nasdaq index gained 1.61% and the broader S&P 500 index gained 0.96%.
Unemployment rose slightly last month in the United States, going from 4.1% to 4.2%, and job creation was surprising by its weakness, at 29,000 compared to 85,000 expected by the markets.
The statistical service of the Ministry of Labor also revised downwards hiring for July and August.
For Jamie Cox, analyst at Harris Financial Group, "there is now no longer any chance that (key) rates will be raised in October."
The American Federal Reserve has the dual objective of aiming for full employment and fighting inflation.
With the surge in energy prices, its mandate on rising prices came to the fore, leading the institution to initiate monetary tightening in September, the first in three years.
The latest jobs report "does not make" inflationary fears disappear, but it tempers the idea that the job market is strong enough for the Fed to ignore it, said Patrick O'Hare, analyst at Briefing.com.
The hypothesis of a status quo by the Federal Reserve in October is now favored by investors, before a possible increase at the following meeting, in December, according to the CME FedWatch monitoring tool.
US stocks benefit from this dynamic because an accommodating monetary environment is conducive to corporate profits.
On the debt market, the reaction to the employment figures was clear: all American bond rates fell significantly.
“This is the news that bonds have been waiting for (...) but long-term yields remain high,” underlines Natalia Lojevsky, of CIFC Asset Management.
The ten-year borrowing rate in the United States was hovering around 5.20% around 2:00 p.m. GMT. It had closed the day before at 5.24% after climbing to 5.34%, a level not seen since 2002.
In addition to the evolution of monetary expectations, the downward movement in Treasury bills is also explained by the sharp decline in oil prices on Friday.
On the business side, electric vehicle specialist Tesla gained 5.48% to $373.51 after reporting vehicle deliveries above expectations in the third quarter.
On the other hand, the clothing and sports equipment group Nike plunged after sharing quarterly results lower than expectations and those of last year. To bounce back, the company has planned "a new operating model" which should notably lead to job cuts, the extent of which has not been specified.
Its title dropped 5.49% to $33.22. Over one year, the fall is dizzying, the stock having lost more than half of its value (-55%).
Hard drive specialists Seagate (-12.07%) and Western Digital (-10.79%) fell after an article from the Japanese media Nikkei assuring that their competitor Toshiba was going to double its production and invest more than 380 million dollars to increase its capacities in its factories in the Philippines.
© 2026 AFP
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