This Week on Wall Street
Your weekly cheat sheet — what's moving markets, what's coming up, and what it means for your portfolio. No jargon, just clarity.
This Week in Markets
Stocks closed out the week with a broad rally on Friday as a surprisingly weak September jobs report cooled bets that the Fed will need to raise rates again before year-end. The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 7,722.72 and the Nasdaq Composite surged 1.2% to 27,190.86, touching a record high on strength in chip and megacap tech names, while the Dow Jones added 0.5% to 51,176.96 but still lagged for the week. Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 29,000, well below the 84,000 forecast, and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, easing fears of further tightening and keeping the 10-year Treasury yield anchored near 5.18%. For the week, the Nasdaq is the lone index in the green, up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, and the Dow remains the laggard, down 1.3%, with rate-sensitive Utilities and Real Estate still the worst-performing sectors and Technology and Communication Services leading. Oil held near $89.50 and gold eased to $4,160.30 as haven demand cooled alongside the rally, and the Fear & Greed Index held at 47 (Neutral). Markets remain closed for the weekend, with next week's calendar headlined by Wednesday's FOMC minutes and the unofficial kickoff of earnings season from PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines.