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Wall Street closed higher on Thursday after a volatile session to start October trading. Yields on U.S. Treasury Notes retreated from their 24-year high levels on yesterday’s late trading session. This boosted market participants’ sentiment. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.04% to close at 50,926.56. However, 16 components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory, while 14 ended in positive territory. At the intraday low, the blue-chip index was down 359.56 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended at 26,871.60, rising 0.04% on strong performance by AI semiconductor bigwigs. At the intraday low, the index was down 127.17 points.
The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to finish at 7,666.45. At intraday low, the benchmark index was down 0.5%. Notably, 10 out of 11 sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while one finished in positive territory.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP), the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV), the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) were down 1.5%, 1.4%, 1.3%, 1.1% and 1%, respectively.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.3% to 16.39. A total of 17.25 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 17.19 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, a 1.04-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Yields Retreat
Yields on U.S. government bonds maintained their northward journey in the early trading session yesterday. The yield on the benchmark 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note reached 5.344% at intraday high, marking its highest level since April 3, 2002. The yield on the long-term 30-Year U.S. Treasury Note hit 5.636%, its highest level in 24 years.
However, in the late trading session, 10-Year and 30-Year yields fell six and four basis points, respectively. The yield on the short-term 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note dropped by 10 basis points.
Strong Earnings Results
Micron Technology Inc. (MU - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $33.42 per share, up more than 11-fold from $3.03 in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.73%.
Strong pricing and AI-led memory and storage aided the robust bottom-line growth. Tight DRAM and NAND conditions lifted pricing, while AI demand supported data center growth. Revenues surged 379.3% year over year to $54.23 billion and topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.33%. Data center SSD revenues approached $10 billion, more than 10 times the year-ago level and more than two-thirds of total NAND revenues.
The Institute of Supply Management reported that the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell marginally to 54.5 in September from 54.6 in August. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 54.4. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion of manufacturing activities.
Construction spending increased 0.9% in August in contrast to a decline of 0.5% in July. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 0.1%.
The Department of Labor reported that initial claims decreased by 1,000 to 197,000 for the week ended Sept. 26, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 200,000. The previous week’s data was revised marginally upward to 198,000 from 207,000 reported earlier.
Continuing claims (those who have already received government aid and reported a week behind) decreased 11,000 to 1.701 million for the week ended Sept.19. The previous week's level was revised downward by 7,000 to 1,712,000 from 1,719,000 reported earlier.
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Stock Market News for Oct 2, 2026
Wall Street closed higher on Thursday after a volatile session to start October trading. Yields on U.S. Treasury Notes retreated from their 24-year high levels on yesterday’s late trading session. This boosted market participants’ sentiment. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.04% to close at 50,926.56. However, 16 components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory, while 14 ended in positive territory. At the intraday low, the blue-chip index was down 359.56 points.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended at 26,871.60, rising 0.04% on strong performance by AI semiconductor bigwigs. At the intraday low, the index was down 127.17 points.
The S&P 500 gained 0.2% to finish at 7,666.45. At intraday low, the benchmark index was down 0.5%. Notably, 10 out of 11 sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while one finished in positive territory.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP), the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV), the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) were down 1.5%, 1.4%, 1.3%, 1.1% and 1%, respectively.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.3% to 16.39. A total of 17.25 billion shares were traded on Thursday, higher than the last 20-session average of 17.19 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners by a 1.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, a 1.04-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Yields Retreat
Yields on U.S. government bonds maintained their northward journey in the early trading session yesterday. The yield on the benchmark 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note reached 5.344% at intraday high, marking its highest level since April 3, 2002. The yield on the long-term 30-Year U.S. Treasury Note hit 5.636%, its highest level in 24 years.
However, in the late trading session, 10-Year and 30-Year yields fell six and four basis points, respectively. The yield on the short-term 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note dropped by 10 basis points.
Strong Earnings Results
Micron Technology Inc. (MU - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 non-GAAP earnings of $33.42 per share, up more than 11-fold from $3.03 in the year-ago quarter. The bottom line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.73%.
Strong pricing and AI-led memory and storage aided the robust bottom-line growth. Tight DRAM and NAND conditions lifted pricing, while AI demand supported data center growth. Revenues surged 379.3% year over year to $54.23 billion and topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.33%. Data center SSD revenues approached $10 billion, more than 10 times the year-ago level and more than two-thirds of total NAND revenues.
The stock price of the AI chipset behemoth and high-bandwidth memory giant increased 3%. Micron currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Economic Data
The Institute of Supply Management reported that the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell marginally to 54.5 in September from 54.6 in August. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 54.4. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion of manufacturing activities.
Construction spending increased 0.9% in August in contrast to a decline of 0.5% in July. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was 0.1%.
The Department of Labor reported that initial claims decreased by 1,000 to 197,000 for the week ended Sept. 26, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 200,000. The previous week’s data was revised marginally upward to 198,000 from 207,000 reported earlier.
Continuing claims (those who have already received government aid and reported a week behind) decreased 11,000 to 1.701 million for the week ended Sept.19. The previous week's level was revised downward by 7,000 to 1,712,000 from 1,719,000 reported earlier.