Stocks rise after soft jobs data; Nasdaq hits record led by Nvidia

Stocks rose Friday, though were off their highs, following a surprisingly weak jobs report that raised hopes the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady in October.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 230 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.2%, hitting an all-time high earlier in the day before retreating slightly from those levels.

Treasury yields fell Friday initially following the employment report, though they rebounded, pushing U.S. equities off their highs for the session.

Tech stocks rallied as risk-taking resumed on Wall Street, with shares of Nvidia hitting an all-time high for the first time since May. CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and AMD also all rose to all-time highs. Meanwhile, shares of Intel and AMD also rose 1% and 2%, respectively.

September’s nonfarm payrolls report showed the U.S. economy added 29,000 jobs last month, with unemployment rising to 4.2%. The Dow Jones consensus called for jobs growth of 84,000 and for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.1%.

“This is the exact kind of number the market wanted from a labor standpoint,” said Phil Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic. “Not too hot, not too cold ... not overly great, and not weakening.”