$MU's record sales meet weak jobs and 5% Treasury yields

The week in 5 points

• Stocks split: the S&P 500 slipped 0.27%, the Nasdaq rose 0.45%, and small caps lost 0.16%.
• Hiring cooled: September payrolls increased 29,000, unemployment held at 4.2%, and earlier months were revised lower.
• Inflation stayed relevant: August PCE inflation was 3.4% year over year; the core measure was 3.0%.
• Rate pressure persisted: the Cboe 10-year yield quote rose 9.3 basis points, despite the soft jobs report.
• $MU’s record quarter and fresh product news came with uneven stock moves; a strong business headline did not guarantee a winning week.

This recap covers September 28 through October 2. Equity changes compare Friday’s regular-session close with September 25, excluding dividends.

Tech finished ahead while the broader market lost ground

The S&P 500 finished at 7,722.72, below the prior Friday’s 7,743.41. The Nasdaq Composite reached 27,190.86, while the Dow ended at 51,176.96 and the Russell 2000 at 2,832.89. The Nasdaq-100, a different index of large nonfinancial companies, gained 0.65%.

Among eleven Select Sector SPDR ETF proxies, technology ($XLK) led at +1.80%, followed by energy ($XLE) at +1.26%. Health care ($XLV) fell 2.65%, financials ($XLF) lost 2.46%, and communication services ($XLC) dropped 2.34%. These are ETF price returns, rather than official sector-index or total returns.

Hiring slowed, but inflation and spending stayed in the picture

The jobs report showed only 29,000 new payroll jobs. July and August were revised down by a combined 60,000. Unemployment stayed at 4.2%, while hourly earnings rose 0.1% for the month and 3.0% over a year.

Wednesday’s revised August PCE data showed prices up 0.3% month over month and 3.4% annually. Core PCE, excluding food and energy, rose 0.2% monthly and 3.0% annually. Real consumer spending increased 0.6%; the third estimate put second-quarter GDP growth at 2.2% annualized.

The message was mixed: hiring weakened, but households kept spending and inflation remained above the Fed’s 2% goal. One report cannot settle the outlook. Consumer confidence fell 6.7 points to 81.9; manufacturing PMI was 54.5, above the 50 expansion threshold.

Bond yields rose as gold and oil snapshots weakened

The Cboe/Yahoo 10-year yield series moved from 5.184% to 5.277%, a rise of 9.3 basis points. That is a market yield quote, not the Treasury’s official daily par curve. The VIX traded between 15.30 and 17.59 during the week and closed at 15.31.

New York Fed President John Williams said there was no urgency to act and time to gather more data. He left another hike conditional on his forecast. Vice Chair Philip Jefferson also said future policy judgments might take more time. Neither statement promised the next meeting’s outcome.

Oil, gold, and the dollar were still trading when these feeds were read. These comparisons are snapshots, not verified exchange settlements. Yahoo’s oil and gold series roll between contracts; no roll-adjusted return is claimed. A firmer dollar and higher yields provided pressure on gold, but do not explain every trade.

Your watchlist this week

These were the five largest absolute weekly moves across the 26 names on Eddie’s live watchlist. The third column gives verified news context. Timing alone does not establish why a stock moved, and no company-specific driver was verified for $CDNS.

$MU reported quarterly revenue of $54.23 billion and adjusted earnings of $33.42 per share on Wednesday. Its stock still slipped 0.68% over the full week.

Outside the watchlist, Nike ($NKE) reported $11.2 billion in quarterly revenue, down 4%, and $0.48 earnings per share.

Next week puts services, Fed minutes, and earnings dates in focus

The earnings calendar needs a final issuer check before treating any tentative date as firm. September CPI is scheduled for October 14, outside this next-week table. For this week’s recap, commodity settlements, the official Treasury par-curve comparison, and a $CDNS-specific price driver remain unverified; the labels above preserve those limits.