Equity markets in the United States moved higher on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite touching a fresh intraday peak, after a labour report that came in below forecasts pulled down expectations for a near-term interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve.

Labor Department figures placed nonfarm payroll growth at 29,000 positions for the latest reporting period, with tallies from the two prior months also revised lower — a combined reading that landed roughly 61,000 positions beneath the 90,000-job estimate that surveyed economists had put forward.

The weaker-than-expected figures pulled the CME FedWatch-tracked probability of a Federal Reserve rate increase of at least 25 basis points at the next policy meeting to 23.8%, retreating from 24.4% the session before and well below the 64.2% recorded a week earlier. Robert Bernstone, who oversees trading at SummitTX Capital in New York, observed that the numbers stopped short of signalling an overheating economy yet left open whether they offered any genuine reassurance on the broader outlook.

The reduction in near-term rate-hike expectations drew measured relief from market participants, though lingering unease over the economic outlook and inflation kept sentiment restrained rather than outright bullish. One market observer noted that a short-lived push higher before year-end remained plausible given how broadly unloved the rally had become.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 217.14 points, or 0.43%, at 51,143.70, while the S&P 500 advanced 53.99 points, or 0.70%, to 7,720.44, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 307.48 points, or 1.14%, finishing at 27,179.15.

Reduced expectations for a near-term interest rate increase lent support to sectors sensitive to borrowing costs, with the S&P 500 real estate index adding 0.5% and the small-cap Russell 2000 posting a roughly 1% advance — its strongest single-day performance in approximately one month.

Nvidia and Tesla stood out as the two largest individual contributors to S&P 500 gains, with the broader cohort of high-capitalisation stocks driving much of the index's upward movement. A rally in Tesla shares pushed the S&P 500 consumer discretionary index up by more than 1%, placing it ahead of the other ten major S&P sectors on the day.

Pricing data pointing to a more gradual inflationary path, combined with robust readings on economic output and public reservations voiced by two senior policymakers about lifting borrowing costs again, had already prompted market participants to pare back their bets on an October rate rise heading into the week.

Friday's advance left the Dow and S&P 500 still tracking toward a fourth losing week out of five, while the Nasdaq held a different trajectory, pointing toward its fifth winning week across the last six.

Shares in Nike fell 4.5% after the sportswear group projected a notable decline in full-year revenue, pointing to weaker performance in China, while also announcing workforce reductions and a restructuring of its global business divisions.

Data storage stocks retreated on the day, with Western Digital off around 10% and Seagate Technology down roughly 11%, placing both among the steepest decliners across the S&P 500 technology index. According to Nikkei, Toshiba is targeting a twofold expansion of its manufacturing output for hard disk drives destined for artificial intelligence data centre use, with that build-up expected to be complete by the end of fiscal 2027.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by close to two to one on the NYSE, whereas the Nasdaq's breadth reading came in tighter, with roughly 1.47 advancing names for each that retreated. Among S&P 500 constituents, 10 names touched fresh annual peaks while 18 fell to year-long troughs; on the Nasdaq Composite, 51 stocks reached their highest points in 52 weeks against 191 that dropped to new lows over the same span.