Opening Comment — Friday, October 02, 2026
DJIA: 50,926.56, up 20.51
S&P 500: 7,666.45, up 14.91
NASDAQ: 26,871.60, up 10.54
Stocks higher ahead of September jobs report
Stock futures are higher Friday morning as investors await today’s September employment report and August factory orders data. Next week, markets will look for the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) September services purchasing managers’ index (PMI), minutes from the Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) most recent meeting, and preliminary October consumer sentiment data from the University of Michigan. As of 8:00 AM ET, the Dow is rising 0.5%, while the S&P 500 is up 0.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.6% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mostly unchanged on Thursday as ISM’s September manufacturing PMI unexpectedly fell but still indicated robust expansion. August’s construction spending rose 0.9% month-over-month (MOM), against forecasts for no change. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims and continuing claims for the week prior both eased slightly. The Dow was little changed, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was also little changed. The S&P 500 increased 0.2% with five of 11 sectors finishing in positive territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 1.9%, while the Health Care sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.3%.
On the data front, the September jobs report is expected to show non-farm payrolls increasing by 90,000, following the prior month’s rise of 162,000, while manufacturing payrolls are projected to rise by 10,000, compared to the previous month’s 16,000. Average hourly earnings are forecasted to increase 0.3% MOM and 3.1% year-over-year in September, both unchanged from the prior month’s readings. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate are both expected to remain steady, at 4.1% and 61.6%, respectively. August’s factory orders growth is forecasted to ease to 0.2% MOM from the prior month’s 0.9%, while the finalized reading of August durable goods orders is expected to remain unchanged from the preliminary flat reading.
Technical Analysis:
As of midday Thursday, the S&P 500 is still in an uptrend. Resistance is at the recent high of 7,799, while support lies at the 50- and 200-day moving averages of 7,651 and 7,221, respectively.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as the preliminary September reading of the eurozone’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed price increases picking up more than expected to 0.6% MOM and 3.8% YOY from the prior month’s 0.4% and 3.2%, respectively.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed following Japan’s Tokyo CPI for September accelerating to 2.7% YOY from the prior month’s 1.9% and the country’s August jobless rate ticking up to 2.5%. Meanwhile, South Korea’s September CPI rose 0.3% MOM and 2.9% YOY, versus the prior month’s 0.2% and 3.1%, respectively.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is slightly lower ahead of today’s update on the U.S. labor market.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 3.8% lower at $89.35/barrel and Brent crude oil is down 2.5% at $99.78/barrel following discussions about the potential release of European oil and diesel reserves.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.1% higher at $4,182.37/ounce following a weakening dollar.