Finance

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed other major benchmarks with a 1.2% daily surge on Friday, driven by cooling labor market metrics. The downbeat jobs report prompted market participants to scale back their expectations for an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve later this month. This shift boosted appetite for high-growth tech firms, allowing the index to record a third consecutive weekly gain and edge closer to historical highs.

Despite a strong Friday rally to start the new month, overall equity performance remained fragmented. Over the entire week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.3% and the S&P 500 dropped 0.3%, snapping their previous weekly winning streaks. Meanwhile, the small-cap Russell 2000 also closed out the week slightly lower, recording a modest 0.2% decline.

Energy and precious metals faced downward pressure as global nations acted to stabilize supply constraints. Crude oil futures finished the week lower after G-7 and European countries agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude and diesel from their emergency stockpiles. Concurrently, gold prices declined over 1.4% and silver dropped more than 2.5% for the week, as softer-than-expected September wage growth further minimized near-term inflationary signals.