US open: September jobs data upends hopes for 'Goldilocks' non-farm payrolls report

Wall Street's main market gauges were knocked lower by the release of a September non-farm payrolls report that did little to dissuade traders from their view that the central bank might yet hike short-term rates by another 75 basis points in November, although that was not yet certain.

Nonetheless, even if hiring continued to be "very rapid" the details of the report were perhaps less robust, some economists ventured.

As of 1634 BST, the Dow Jones Industrials had fallen by 1.57% or 469.37 points to 29,457.57, while the S&P 500 was down by 2.07% or 78.16 points to 3,665.47.

The Nasdaq Composite meanwhile was trading off by 2.91% or 321.42 points to 10,751.89.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was up by five basis points to 3.874%, having earlier reached 3.91%.

Front-dated West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were also climbing, adding 2.94% to $91.39 a barrel on the ICE.

The US dollar index was roughly flat and Fed funds futures were indicating a 75.6% probability of 75bp rate hike when the Federal Reserve next met on 2 November.

According to the US Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls increased by 263,000 in September (consensus: 250,000), alongside a two tenths of a percentage point drop in the rate of unemployment to 3.5% (consensus: 3.7%).

Average hourly earnings meanwhile were up by 5.0% year-on-year (consensus: 5.1%) and the labour force participation rate dipped from 62.4% to 62.3%.

For Ian Shepherdson, chief US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, there were perhaps very preliminary signs of slower wage growth and the trend in participation was still higher, notwithstanding Friday's numbers.

"The household data are meaningless month-to-month, but that doesn’t stop the Fed looking at the data and discussing them as though they mean something," he said.

"And with Chair Powell now just as obsessed with the labor market as with the current inflation data, this report just about nails-on a 75bp hike next month. Things might look different by December."

Dow Jones - Risers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $162.92 0.93%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $87.84 0.46%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Honeywell International Inc. (HON) $0.00 0.00%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $230.54 -0.18%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $233.99 -0.32%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $54.77 -0.47%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $303.00 -0.55%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $160.93 -0.61%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $125.52 -0.76%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $236.25 -4.27%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.02 -4.27%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $31.19 -3.27%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $141.46 -2.73%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $151.57 -2.50%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $506.43 -2.45%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $88.07 -2.32%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $36.99 -2.23%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $97.95 -2.09%
Boeing Co. (BA) $129.61 -1.96%

S&P 500 - Risers

ConocoPhillips (COP) $120.95 2.80%
Apache Corp. (APA) $43.33 2.68%
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) $28.75 1.77%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $43.85 1.72%
Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $29.35 1.70%
Halliburton Co. (HAL) $30.31 1.69%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $129.64 1.65%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $260.50 1.48%
Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) $73.26 1.41%
Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) $491.77 1.35%

S&P 500 - Fallers

CVS Health Corp (CVS) $88.75 -9.97%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $61.33 -9.60%
Centene Corp. (CNC) $74.72 -6.88%
Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) $7.26 -5.59%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $124.24 -5.38%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $83.70 -5.02%
HP Inc (HPQ) $25.17 -4.95%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $379.01 -4.68%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $236.25 -4.27%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.02 -4.27%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Biogen Inc (BIIB) $264.31 0.78%
Hasbro Inc (HAS) $68.87 0.47%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $299.34 0.24%
Celgene Corp. (CELG) $0.00 0.00%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN) $0.00 0.00%
Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) $0.00 0.00%
Shire Plc Ads (SHPG) $0.00 0.00%
Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) $0.00 0.00%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $0.00 0.00%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $0.00 0.00%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $2.02 -5.40%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $124.24 -5.38%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $83.70 -5.02%
Asml Holdings N.V. (ASML) $440.12 -4.76%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $379.01 -4.68%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $236.25 -4.27%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $26.02 -4.27%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $49.55 -4.08%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $88.86 -4.05%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $228.84 -3.90%