Markets tread water on mixed jobs, inflation data

This week brought investors a pile of conflicting signals: September payrolls added only 29,000 jobs while unemployment ticked up to 4.2%, wage growth slowed to 0.1%, and real wages have now fallen for six straight months. Meanwhile inflation came in a touch better than feared, with core PCE at 3% year over year versus the 3.3% consensus, and GDP for the second quarter got revised up to 2.2%.

The major indices went their separate ways, with the Dow down 651 points, the S&P off 21, and the Nasdaq up 122, and consumer confidence dropped roughly six points to 81.9 as Americans soured on current business conditions for the first time in a year. Analysts cited by the report pinned recent GDP gains on AI investment in data centers and equipment, with one economist suggesting the inflationary worry may eventually give way to discussion of AI's disinflationary effects.

Through all of it, Wall Street mostly stood still, apparently waiting, per one strategist, for earnings season and the midterms to break the deadlock.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.