Wall Street sets more records, but bond yields drop following
discouraging data on the job market
[October 02, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose to more records on Wednesday, as Wall Street
still doesn’t care much about the shutdown of the U.S. government, but
yields sank in the bond market following the latest discouraging signals
on the economy.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% to top its prior all-time high, which was set
last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 43 points, or 0.1%, to
its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%.
The action was stronger in the bond market, where Treasury yields
dropped after a report suggested hiring may have been much weaker across
the country last month than economists expected.
Employers outside the government actually cut 32,000 more jobs than they
added, according to the survey by ADP Research, with the Midwest taking
particularly hard hits. What’s worse, the survey also revised down its
numbers for employment in August, to a loss of 3,000 jobs from a
previously reported gain of 54,000.
Usually, traders on Wall Street wait for a more comprehensive jobs
report that comes from the U.S. government each month to suss out how
the job market is doing. The U.S. government gets its data from a larger
sample of employers than the ADP survey, which does not have a perfect
track record predicting what the more comprehensive report will say each
month.
But the next Labor Department report, scheduled for Friday, is likely to
be delayed because of the shutdown of the U.S. government that began
just after midnight.
“Whether this is an accurate statistic or not, people in the markets
believe that it signals something,” according to Carl Weinberg, chief
economist at High Frequency Economics. “The signal from today’s headline
will not be a good one.”
The hope on Wall Street has been that the job market will continue to
slow by a very precise amount: enough to convince the Federal Reserve to
keep cutting interest rates, but not by so much that it brings a
recession.
That’s a delicate balance to achieve, and every economic report from the
U.S. government that gets delayed only increases the uncertainty about
whether it’s possible. Stocks have already run to records on
expectations for coming cuts to rates, so a lack of them could send the
market lower.
To be sure, the stock market and economy have typically powered through
past shutdowns, particularly if they are short in duration. But this
shutdown could be different in a couple ways, including the threat that
the White House may use it to push for large-scale firings of federal
workers.
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A trader looks at financial information on his computer on the floor
at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
 On Wall Street, Nike rose 6.4% after
blowing past analysts’ expectations for profit in the latest
quarter. The athletic giant reported strong growth for apparel sold
in North America.
Lithium America’s stock that trades in the United States jumped
23.3% after the Canadian company said the U.S. government agreed to
let it draw from a previously announced $2.26 billion loan. As part
of the agreement, the U.S. Department of Energy will take an
ownership stake in the Vancouver-based company.
Lithium Americas is developing a lithium project in Nevada with
General Motors, and it follows Intel and other companies where the
U.S. government has recently taken an ownership stake.
On the losing side of the market was Peloton Interactive, which
dropped 3.7%. It got a cold reception to its unveiling of an AI and
computer vision system, along with other equipment designed for
cross training.
Corteva sank 9.1% after announcing a plan to split into two
companies, each with its own stock. One will hold onto the company’s
seed business, while the other will focus on crop protection.
Cal-Maine Foods fell 1.2% after the egg company’s profit and revenue
for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 22.74 points to 6,711.20. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 43.21 to 46,441.10, and the Nasdaq
composite climbed 95.15 to 22,755.16.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed
finish in Asia.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.10%
from 4.16% late Tuesday.
Yields fell as the weaker-than-expected payroll report from ADP
firmed expectations for coming cuts to rates by the Fed. So did
another report showing that U.S. manufacturing was weaker last month
than economists expected.
Several manufacturers told the Institute for Supply Management’s
surveyors that they’re still feeling pain because of tariffs.
“Steel tariffs are killing us,” one manufacturer said.
___
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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