Update: US Equity Indexes Rise as Downbeat Nonfarm Payrolls Temper Hawkish Fed Policy Outlook

04:25 PM EDT, 10/02/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with index/price moves, macroeconomic data, comments, and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.) US equity indexes jumped after a weak September jobs report helped lower the odds of a back-to-back interest-rate increase in October. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.2% to 27,190.86, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 7,722.72, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.5% to 51,176.96 on Friday. All but one sectors rose, with consumer discretionary, technology, and materials leading the gainers. The September employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 29,000, below the 90,000 increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey, while August jobs were revised downward to a 133,000 increase and July payrolls were adjusted lower to a 10,000 decrease, for a net reduction of 60,000 jobs. Hourly earnings rose by 0.1%, missing expectations for 0.3% growth and below the 0.3% increase in August. Hourly earnings were up 3.0% from a year ago, slower than the 3.1% year-over-year gain in August. New orders for US factory goods rose by 0.1% in August, below expectations for a 0.2% increase in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a revised 0.8% increase in July. Excluding a 0.7% decline in transportation orders, new orders would have been up 0.3% after a 0.7% increase in July. Traders slashed the probability of the Federal Reserve raising its target rate by 25 basis points in October to 23% from 64% a week earlier, according to the FedWatch tool. The remaining 77% likelihood is that rates will remain unchanged in the 3.75% to 4.00% range. The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract dropped 1.4% to $91.56 per barrel, while the global benchmark North Sea Brent rose 0.6% to $102.94 per barrel, clawing back intraday declines. The G7 agreed to release 100 million barrels of energy reserves "immediately over 4 months" to help ease price pressures, it said. The plan includes a "frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days" by G7 members and partners, per a G7 statement. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, along with Russia and other allies, is delaying a review to set oil output quotas for 2027 due to disruptions in capacity expansion plans caused by the Iran war, Reuters reported Friday, citing sources close to the matter. In company news, Nvidia's (NVDA) DGX Spark personal AI computer will be offered in a new 64-gigabyte unified-memory configuration from Acer, Asus, Dell (DELL), Gigabyte, HP (HPQ) and MSI starting Oct. 23, with prices from $4,999, the company said Friday. Shares closed up 1.3% after hitting an all-time high earlier in the session. Nike (NKE) shares slumped 3.6%, the Dow's steepest decliner, after the sportswear giant forecast a fiscal 2027 revenue decline and unveiled a plan to transform its operating model.