US Market Wrap 2 October: Nasdaq Rises 1.19 Percent After the Payrolls Miss as Yields Rebound
Wall Street ended the week with a broad rally after the September payrolls miss, led from the technology heavy end. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.19 percent to 27,190.86 on Friday, its third straight gain on our published closes, the S&P 500 added 0.73 percent to 7,722.72 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 250.40 points, or 0.49 percent, to 51,176.96. The rally came on the day the United States reported 29,000 nonfarm payrolls with unemployment at 4.2 percent, as published in our report of 2 October, against the 84,000 Dow Jones consensus the network carried, and the gains survived a turn higher in Treasury yields: on the Treasury’s own daily table the two year par yield rose 5 basis points to 4.83 percent and the 10 year 4 to 5.28. Brent settled 6 cents lower at 102.25 dollars in the network’s written report, and the commodities board is carried below from our Commodities Wrap of 2 October.
Ten of eleven sectors rise as the Nasdaq sets an intraday record
Ten of the eleven sectors closed higher: consumer discretionary led at 1.38 percent, information technology added 1.06 and materials 1.00, while health care’s 0.04 percent slip was the only fall, with financials barely positive at 0.01 and consumer staples at 0.16. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.00 percent to 30,807.93 and the Russell 2000 0.94 percent to 2,832.90. The Composite reached an intraday record of 27,353.68 before easing as Treasury yields reversed course, and its close left it 53.42 points short of the 22 September record close of 27,244.28, on our published closes. The network’s closing report had Nvidia at its highest intraday level ever, and on the vendor feed the shares closed 1.34 percent higher at 233.95 dollars after touching 237.88; CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and AMD also reached all time highs, per the same report. Tesla closed 4.65 percent higher at 370.59 dollars after third quarter deliveries of 486,532 vehicles came in above the 461,100 the network carried as expected, and Nike closed 3.64 percent lower at 33.87 dollars after a mixed first quarter of fiscal 2027, having opened 6 percent down. On the week, on our calculation against our published closes of Friday 25 September, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.45 percent and the Nasdaq 100 0.65 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.27 percent, the Russell 2000 0.16 and the Dow 1.26.
Yields climb back from the payrolls dip as the curve flattens
The network’s closing report had Treasury yields falling at first after the employment report before rebounding, which pushed stocks off their session highs. The official par curve closed higher at every maturity we publish, led from the front: the two year rose 5 basis points to 4.83 percent, the three year 5 to 4.96, the five year 5 to 5.06, the 10 year 4 to 5.28 and the 30 year 2 to 5.63, narrowing the gap between the two year and the 30 year to 80 basis points from Thursday’s 83, on our calculation. The two year gave back half of Thursday’s 10 basis point fall. The miss was wider once revisions are counted: July and August payrolls were revised down by a combined 60,000, with July now a loss of 10,000, as published in our report of 2 October. In the instruments table the Cboe Volatility Index fell 6.59 percent to 15.31 and the dollar index eased 0.20 percent, with sterling 0.33 percent higher. In crude, the network’s written report had Brent losing 6 cents to settle at 102.25 dollars and WTI shedding 1.76 dollars to 91.11, after the Group of Seven said it would deploy 100 million barrels of reserves over the next four months, with what its leaders called a frontloaded substantial diesel release within the first 20 days.
Strongest gains
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Nasdaq Composite | 27,190.86 | +1.19% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 30,807.93 | +1.00% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,832.90 | +0.94% |
Closes of Friday 2 October 2026 from the vendor feed after the 20:00 GMT close, as of 20:19 GMT, ranked by change; every change is measured against our published Thursday 1 October closes. All five boards closed higher on Friday, so the usual gainers and losers split is published as the strongest and the shallowest gains, with the reason disclosed here.
Shallowest gains
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,722.72 | +0.73% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 51,176.96 | +0.49% |
Closes of Friday 2 October 2026, same basis as the board above; the two shallowest rises of the five, ranked by change.
S&P 500 sectors
| Sector | Change |
|---|---|
| Consumer discretionary | +1.38% |
| Information technology | +1.06% |
| Materials | +1.00% |
| Consumer staples | +0.16% |
| Financials | +0.01% |
| Health care | -0.04% |
Top 3 and bottom 3 of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, same basis as the index boards; ten of the eleven closed higher. Omitted: communication services +0.88 percent, industrials +0.78, utilities +0.37, real estate +0.36, energy +0.21.
US Treasury par yield curve
| Maturity | 2 Oct | 1 Oct | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Year | 4.83% | 4.78% | +5 bp |
| 3 Year | 4.96% | 4.91% | +5 bp |
| 5 Year | 5.06% | 5.01% | +5 bp |
| 10 Year | 5.28% | 5.24% | +4 bp |
| 30 Year | 5.63% | 5.61% | +2 bp |
The official daily par yield curve for 2 October and 1 October 2026 from the US Treasury’s own daily table at 20:05 GMT, the 1 October row exact to our published record; the Treasury derives the curve from indicative bid side quotations at about 19:30 GMT in US summer time, and the changes are ours. Omitted maturities on 2 October: 1 month 4.04 percent, 1.5 month 4.09, 2 month 4.11, 3 month 4.19, 4 month 4.26, 6 month 4.27, 1 year 4.46, 7 year 5.17, 20 year 5.67.
Commodities
| Contract | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,170.80 | -0.75% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $60.780 | -0.65% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Dec’26), dollars a barrel | $102.88 | +0.56% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $91.55 | -1.42% |
Carried verbatim from our Commodities Wrap of 2 October 2026: levels as displayed in the price feed at 20:00 GMT on Friday, measured against Thursday’s settlements as carried in the feed, post settlement window quotes, not the official settlements; the Brent row is the December 2026 contract. The written settlements had Brent at 102.25 dollars, down 6 cents, and WTI at 91.11 dollars, down 1.76 dollars. Fixed row order.
Currencies, volatility and crypto
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) | 15.31 | -6.59% |
| Bitcoin, dollars | 84,365.20 | -0.33% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 101.896 | -0.20% |
| Euro/Dollar | 1.1255 | +0.12% |
| Sterling/Dollar | 1.3242 | +0.33% |
| Dollar/Yen | 157.82 | -0.16% |
Quotes as of 20:19 GMT on Friday 2 October 2026, fixed row order; the VIX row is the session’s last level on the vendor’s feed after the United States cash close.
Asia, session of Friday 2 October
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 8,682.10 | +0.79% |
| Kospi (South Korea) | 7,003.74 | +0.46% |
| Taiex (Taiwan) | 48,475.74 | +0.25% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,634.82 | -0.58% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 68,309.46 | -0.94% |
| Topix (Japan) | 4,091.00 | -0.99% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 23,972.29 | -2.60% |
Carried whole from our Asia Market Wrap of 2 October 2026, gainers then losers, rows verbatim on the basis published there; the Hang Seng row is measured against Wednesday’s close across a single shut session, and the mainland China and India boards were shut for their holidays, all as disclosed there.
Middle East, session of Thursday 1 October
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| EGX 30 (Egypt) | 53,055.03 | +2.24% |
| MSX 30 (Oman) | 7,598.512 | +0.42% |
| ASE Index (Jordan) | 4,206.57 | +0.38% |
| Bahrain All Share (Bahrain) | 1,904.50 | -0.17% |
| Tadawul All Share (Saudi Arabia) | 10,392.97 | -0.46% |
| DFM General (Dubai) | 5,930.40 | -0.51% |
| QE Index (Qatar) | 9,192.24 | -0.57% |
| FTSE ADX General (Abu Dhabi) | 9,998.24 | -0.72% |
| Kuwait All Share (Kuwait) | 8,713.71 | -0.75% |
Carried from our Middle East Market Wrap of Thursday 1 October 2026, the region’s last full session before the weekend, gainers then losers, rows verbatim on the basis published there; the United Arab Emirates boards’ Friday session is published in our Asia Market Wrap of 2 October. The Dubai change is the exchange’s own daily closing figure and the Tadawul All Share and EGX 30 percentage changes are the exchanges’ own prints, as disclosed there.
Europe, session of Friday 2 October
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| AEX (Netherlands) | 1,116.71 | +1.28% |
| DAX (Germany), Xetra close | 25,231.20 | +1.17% |
| Euro Stoxx 50 (euro area) | 6,238.50 | +1.02% |
| CAC 40 (France) | 7,897.19 | +0.79% |
| Stoxx Europe 600 (Europe) | 631.35 | +0.75% |
| FTSE MIB (Italy) | 50,483.21 | +0.49% |
| IBEX 35 (Spain) | 19,085.30 | +0.42% |
| FTSE 100 (United Kingdom) | 10,461.95 | +0.32% |
| SMI (Switzerland) | 13,660.92 | +0.28% |
Carried from our Europe Market Wrap of 2 October 2026, rows verbatim on the basis published there, where all nine boards closed higher after two straight sessions in which all nine closed lower, ranked here from the strongest gain to the shallowest; the Stoxx rows are the indices’ official closing values and the DAX row is Deutsche Boerse’s published Xetra closing price, all as disclosed there.
Why it matters: Friday broke Thursday’s pattern. On Thursday stocks rose as yields fell; on Friday they finished higher even though yields reversed their early fall after the report and closed higher at every maturity we publish, which on our reading means the payrolls miss, tied in the network’s closing report to hopes of an October hold, outweighed the later rebound in yields. The gain was broad, ten of eleven sectors higher with health care’s 0.04 percent slip the only fall, and the cyclical end led, discretionary and technology both above 1 percent. The week still splits, on our calculation: the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.45 percent higher while the Dow finished 1.26 percent lower. Across every session we published on Friday, the AEX’s 1.28 percent rise in Europe was the strongest and the Hang Seng’s 2.60 percent fall in Asia the deepest.
Outlook: Monday’s boards measure against tonight’s closes, with the crude references the written settlements of 102.25 dollars for Brent and 91.11 for WTI, as the network published them, and the G7 release, frontloaded on diesel, is the oil market’s first test of the week. In Asia the Hang Seng measures against 23,972.29 and India reopens against Thursday’s 22,421.95, with the mainland boards back on 8 October, as disclosed in our Asia Market Wrap of 2 October; the Gulf week opens on Sunday against the Thursday closes carried above.
Sources: US Department of the Treasury, CNBC, The Edge.
