Equity and rate desks got a softer-than-expected labor print Friday: the Bureau of Labor Statistics said nonfarm payrolls rose 29,000 in September and the unemployment rate climbed to 4.2%. That missed the roughly 84,000 consensus many desks had carried into the 8:30 a.m. Eastern release and sat below the prior 12-month average gain of about 45,000 jobs a month.

Average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% to $37.81, leaving the 12-month wage gain at 3.0% — the slowest since May 2021. The workweek held at 34.4 hours. July was revised to a 10,000-job loss and August to a 133,000 gain, cutting 60,000 jobs from prior totals. Private payrolls rose 46,000; government fell 17,000. Health care, construction, and manufacturing led the slim gain while information, temp help, and financial activities shed jobs.

CNBC and Yahoo Finance confirmed the same BLS lines. Stock futures jumped and Treasury yields slumped as traders lifted odds the Federal Reserve holds rates at its Oct. 27–28 meeting. The print lands after Wednesday’s softer August core PCE (3.0% year over year) and a hot September ISM prices-paid reading that had kept stagflation talk alive into the open.

Backstory: August’s 162,000 surge had looked like resilience after a weak midsummer stretch. Friday’s miss reframes that bounce as uneven. Iran/Hormuz risk still props oil, so desks will separate war-risk premiums from this domestic labor soft patch before redrawing the December Fed path.

Engage: bls.gov/news.release/empsit for the tables; CNBC and major wires for first market reaction. October’s Employment Situation is due Friday, November 6.