Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 (+0.8%) and Nasdaq Composite (+1.5%) reached fresh session highs ahead of the close.

Treasuries settled with gains, leading the 10-yr yield to drop nine basis points to 4.34% and the 2-yr yield to drop five basis points to 4.22%. This followed a smaller than expected uptick in weekly jobless claims (to 221,000 from 218,000; Briefing.com consensus 222,000) and a preliminary reading of the Q3 Productivity/unit labor costs report that featured a smaller than expected increase in productivity (2.2%; Briefing.com consensus 2.3%) and a bigger than expected rise in labor costs (1.9%; Briefing.com consensus 0.5%). 

The Treasury market was also digesting the FOMC decision to cut the target range for the fed funds rate by 25 basis point to 4.50-4.75%. Fed Chairman Powell repeated in his press conference that decisions will be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis, adding that the labor market is not a source of meaningful inflationary pressures at this time. He also said that the election has no immediate impact on the central bank's decision making.