Market Midday: Stocks Mixed as Jobs and Inflation Data Beat Forecasts • 9/30/26

Wall Street shows mixed performance on the final trading day of September and the third quarter, despite better-than-expected inflation and employment data. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rate slowed to 3.4% in August, while the ADP payroll report revealed a gain of 90,000 jobs, primarily driven by the education and health services sectors. However, rising oil prices—with U.S. crude nearing $91 a barrel—are weighing on companies like Sherwin-Williams, and mortgage rates have climbed to a nearly three-year high of 7.58%. In the technology sector, AI executives have signed a non-binding safety pledge at the White House. Sebastian Malaby of the Council on Foreign Relations notes that the industry's rapid acceleration is currently outpacing the development of necessary safety protocols, creating a "race dynamic" that forced organizations like OpenAI to prioritize safety discussions over immediate deployment.