The September jobs report badly missed expectations, which is bad news for the labor market but good news for stocks and bonds since it kills the case for another rate hike.

• Hiring came in at 29,000 jobs versus the 90,000 expected, with prior months revised down too.
• Wage growth nearly stopped, a sign workers have lost bargaining power.
• Job losses are piling up in finance and insurance, where AI is replacing underwriters and compliance staff.
• Construction, healthcare, and the AI buildout are still adding enough jobs to hide those losses for now.
• Bond yields dropped sharply on the news and the Nasdaq pushed to a record high.

Outlook: The odds of a December rate hike just fell, and the Fed will be reluctant to tighten if more cracks show up in hiring.