Peter Nicholls / Reuters
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 18,260.49, -8.01, (-0.04%)
- S&P 500: 2,155.41, -5.36, (-0.25%)
- Nasdaq: 5,292.39, -14.46, (-0.27%)
- The US economy added 156,000 jobs in September, fewer than the 172,000 expected. The unemployment rate rose to 5% as labor-force participation also improved. Wage growth remained modest, with average hourly earnings up by 0.2% month-on-month, and 2.6% year-on-year. "No alarms, no surprises," said Thomas Simons, an economist at Jefferies.
- Canada's employment surged by 67,000 in September, the biggest monthly gain since April 2012. But most of those jobs were for part-time and self-employed workers. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.0%. The details of the report were nowhere near as good as the headline gain," Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics' chief North America economist, wrote in a note.
- Canada Goose, the Canadian winter-apparel manufacturer, is reportedly planning to go public. The flotation could value the company at as much as $2 billion, and may take place as early as next year, according to Dow Jones.
- The US oil rig count rose by three to 428 this week, according to oilfields services giant Baker Hughes. The rig count has not dropped for 16 straight weeks , likely reflecting producers' growing confidence as oil prices stopped tumbling.
- Qatari investors who own the largest stake in Deutsche Bank do not plan to sell their shares and could buy more if the embattled lender decides to raise capital, Reuters reported. Qatar could raise its stake in Deutsche Bank to as much as 25%, according to Bloomberg. Shares of the German bank gained more than 2% on the news.
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