Big Tech Fends Off Rate Hike Fears After Jobs Data: Markets Wrap

Mega-cap tech stocks pushed US stock benchmarks higher on Friday, shrugging off heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this year.

(Bloomberg) — Mega-cap tech stocks pushed US stock benchmarks higher on Friday, shrugging off heightened expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this year.

The S&P 500 clawed early losses to advanced 0.6% while the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.9% with large-cap tech names, including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp., powering the benchmarks higher. Eli Lilly & Co. also advanced after an analyst raised his price target on optimism over its diabetes drug that is also used for weight-loss.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries neared 4.9% immediately after a payrolls report while the 30-year bond rose above 5% — both touching the highest since 2007 after an unexpected surge in hiring. Swap traders are pricing in a roughly one-in-two chance of a rate hike by December. 

The nonfarm payrolls report showed employers quickened the pace of hiring, with 336,000 jobs being added in September — well ahead of economists’ estimates. The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed Friday.

“Not only does today’s report indicate the economy is almost too hot to handle and the Fed will need to respond with more rate hikes, it reinforces the higher for longer narrative that has been spooking bond markets for the past few weeks,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “Markets want the perfect landing and instead they are facing an upward sloping path.”

Global bonds are set to stretch their losing streak into a fifth week. The selloff has been hammering risk assets from stocks — the S&P 500 is also poised for a five-week slide — to corporate credit on concerns that central banks will keep interest rates elevated longer than expected. 

The latest labor numbers may also be shaking Wall Street’s faith in the Fed’s ability to cool the economy without stoking a recession. 

“Something is likely to break,” Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, said on Bloomberg Television. The Bloomberg Opinion columnist said Friday’s job numbers were consistent with his call for a possible recession.

“Investors were looking for a job report that is weak enough to keep the Fed from raising rates while also not being so weak as to stoke fears of a hard landing,” said Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates. “This report is clearly going to put a rate increase firmly back on the table.”

“The job market is very strong — no other way to say it. Headline is much stronger than expected,” said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research. “It is what it is — likely negative for stocks and bonds on the day.” 

Job data earlier this week provided a more discordant narrative: job-openings overshot estimates, while a measure of private employment from ADP was weaker than forecast.

Read: The 5% Bond Market Means Pain Is Heading Everyone’s Way

Traders have record sums riding on the outcome of November’s Fed meeting as investors and policymakers debate the likelihood of a further rate increase this year. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who doesn’t vote on the Fed’s rate-setting committee this year, said the central bank may keep rates on hold if inflation and the jobs market cool.

Beaten-down bonds will make a comeback in 2024 when higher interest rates send the economy into a recession, according to Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett.

Once the recession being priced by bond and stock markets “mutates into economic data, bonds rally big and bonds should be the best performing asset class in the first half of 2024,” Hartnett wrote in a note. 

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

  • The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 11:37 a.m. New York time
  • The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
  • The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.8%
  • The MSCI World index rose 0.7%

Currencies

  • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
  • The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0591
  • The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2252
  • The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 149.11 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

  • Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $27,942.31
  • Ether rose 1.9% to $1,647.77

Bonds

  • The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.76%
  • Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.89%
  • Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.59%

Commodities

  • West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
  • Gold futures rose 0.8% to $1,847 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Carter Johnson, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Richard Henderson and John Viljoen.

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