Jobs Report, Fed Rate Outlook and Nvidia
By Juliegrace Brufke | Quincy News Correspondent
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Washington (Quincy News) — Market Recap: Stocks rallied Thursday as comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller eased concerns about an interest-rate increase. The Dow rose 1.2%, the S&P 500 gained 1.1% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.4%.
Waller said he would be inclined to keep rates unchanged at the Fed’s September meeting if inflation continues to cool, pushing back against growing expectations of an increase. Traders cut the odds of a September hike to roughly 50% from about 63% a day earlier, according to CME FedWatch, while Treasury yields fell. A hike this month would be the Fed’s first rate increase since 2023.
Nvidia rose nearly 2% after agreeing to buy AI platform Hugging Face for about $13 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
Today’s Focus: The August jobs report is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect payrolls to rise by about 56,000 after a surprise decline of 23,000 in July. Wednesday’s ADP report showed private employers added 38,000 jobs in August.
U.S. markets will be closed Monday for Labor Day, with next week’s inflation reports among the final major data points before the Fed’s Sept. 15-16 policy decision.
ON THE SCHEDULE FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2026
-8:30 a.m. ET – August employment report
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