Market Wrap
Published
The S&P 500 (SPY) closed up 0.7%, with the Nasdaq Composite hitting an all-time high, as a coordinated G7 release of diesel and crude reserves and the Navy's reopening of the Strait of Hormuz overrode a weak jobs report and a brief Hormuz tanker scare.
September nonfarm payrolls came in at just 29,000 versus 90,000 expected, with unemployment rising to 4.2% and average hourly earnings growth slowing to 0.1%, and the prior two months revised down by a combined 60,000. White House adviser Hassett called the report "about expected" and attributed rising yields to a "robust economy." Fed officials remained split: Logan said inflation isn't on track to reach 2% and floated further hikes, Goolsbee said inflation progress has stalled and is "going the wrong way," while Barkin, Collins and Schmid backed the September hike to 3.75%-4% without signaling further moves. On energy, Macron said the G7 agreed to release up to 100 million barrels of diesel and crude over four months, Trump confirmed Europe would begin releasing diesel immediately and ruled out any US export ban, and IEA's Birol said the announcement alone had already cut prices by at least $5. WTI settled at $91.11, down 1.9% on the day, even after a UKMTO report of a tanker struck by a projectile in Hormuz briefly pushed Brent back above $102.
Technology (+1.0%) led sector gains, though dispersion inside the group was extreme: HP Enterprise, SolarEdge and NetApp each rose more than 5%, Texas Instruments, Cisco and Broadcom all gained over 3%, Nvidia touched its first record high since May on a Morgan Stanley top-pick call, while Seagate and Western Digital each fell more than 10% and Accenture dropped 5.8%. Consumer Discretionary (+1.2%) was lifted by Tesla's 4.7% gain after third-quarter deliveries of 486,532 beat the 463,761 consensus, while Nike slid to its lowest level since 2013. Industrials (+0.8%) and Materials (+0.7%) also advanced, with Freeport-McMoRan up 4.0%; Health Care and Financials were little changed, with Coinbase down 3.3% and FactSet Research off 4.2%.
Company News
- Nike reported fiscal Q1 EPS of $0.48, ahead of estimates, but revenue of $11.21 billion missed the $11.43 billion expected; the company guided fiscal 2027 revenue to decline in the high-single digits with adjusted EPS of $1.15 to $1.35, and JPMorgan cut its price target to $33 from $40. Shares fell roughly 10% from Thursday's close.
- ON Semiconductor agreed to acquire Synaptics for $123 per share in cash, a revised deal worth $5.70 billion, down from roughly $7 billion under the original June agreement, after Synaptics received a competing bid. The deal has FTC approval and is financed with a $2.45 billion commitment from Morgan Stanley. Shares rose about 5-6%.
- Fair Isaac fell sharply for a second session, extending Thursday's post-earnings-related slide.
- Paramount Skydance will move its listing to the NYSE and rename itself Skydance Corporation, with the ticker changing to SKYD effective October 6.
- Authentic Brands Group is reportedly weighing a takeover of Mattel valued above $6 billion.
- Tesla reported Q3 deliveries of 486,532 vehicles, above the 463,761 consensus.
- Ford's Q3 US sales fell 6.6% year-over-year to 509,764 units, with hybrid sales down 19.7% and EV sales down 80.2%.