After the AI Wipeout, Friday's Jobs Shock Bought Wall Street a Bounce — and Raised the Odds of a December Rate Hike

Chip stocks clawed back losses a day after their worst session in months. The catch: a 165,000-payroll print pushed traders toward another Federal Reserve increase before Christmas. Here is the late-session picture as this was written.

By Clara Hughes

Thursday's technology rout was supposed to be the story of the week. Friday's Employment Situation report rewrote the second chapter. U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported — far above Wall Street forecasts clustered near 59,000 to 65,000, CNBC and Reuters reported. That strength did two things at once: it reminded investors the economy is not rolling over with the midterm shock, and it pulled December Federal Reserve hike odds higher. As this was written Friday late afternoon Eastern — with the cash session near the close — Yahoo Finance showed the S&P 500 around 7,394, up roughly 0.55% on the day after Thursday's plunge to a 7,353.73 close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was near 51,398 in Yahoo Finance's Nov. 6 session data after Thursday's close of 51,523.06. A midday USA Today snapshot had the Nasdaq up about 1.2%,