Stock Markets React Sharply to New Jobs Data

As of Friday, February 6, 2026, Wall Street is experiencing a bout of intense volatility. After three days of sharp declines fueled by weak labor data and “Big Tech” spending concerns, the market is attempting a fragile rebound today as “dip buyers” return to the fray.+1

🎢 Market Performance Today (Friday, Feb 6)

Following a brutal Thursday where the S&P 500 turned negative for the year, the indexes are showing signs of a “dead cat bounce” or a genuine recovery attempt:

S&P 500: Up 1.5% in intraday trading, heading toward its best single day since November.
Nasdaq Composite: Rebounding 1.5% after being hammered by software and AI-related sell-offs earlier in the week.
Dow Jones: Climbing 1.2%, recovering some of the 600 points lost in the previous session.
Small Caps (Russell 2000): Outperforming with a 3.0% jump, as investors hope the cooling labor market will force the Fed to cut rates sooner.

📉 Why the “Sharp” Reaction?

The market’s “stomach ache” this week was triggered by a series of data points that challenged the “soft landing” narrative:

The “108k” Shock: A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that U.S. layoffs in January hit 108,435—the highest for that month since the 2009 Great Recession.
ADP Miss: Private payrolls added only 22,000 jobs in January, significantly missing expectations and signaling that the “hiring engine” has stalled.
The “AI Spend” Fear: Despite strong earnings, giants like Alphabet and Amazon saw shares slide earlier this week after announcing massive increases in AI capital expenditure ($175B–$200B+), leading investors to worry about “over-investment” without immediate returns.

🏦 The Fed Watch & Bond Yields

The deteriorating jobs data has caused a significant shift in interest rate expectations.

Treasury Yields: The 10-year yield slipped below 4.2% as traders bet that a weakening labor market will necessitate more aggressive rate cuts from the Federal Reserve later this year.
Rate Cut Odds: Markets have now fully priced in a rate cut for June 2026, with some analysts seeing a 50/50 chance of an “emergency” move as early as April if the official February 11th jobs report is equally bleak.

💰 Crypto & Commodities Bounce Back

The “risk-off” sentiment that sent Bitcoin plunging to $62,000 on Thursday has reversed today.

Bitcoin: Surged 10% back above $69,000 today, reclaiming nearly all of its weekly losses.
Gold/Silver: Precious metals are bouncing as the dollar softens, with gold hovering near $4,800/oz after a volatile week.

Market Note: Keep an eye on Wednesday, February 11. The official government employment report (delayed by the recent shutdown) will be the ultimate “make or break” moment for this rally.