Editor’s Note
This article discusses a significant downward revision to U.S. non-farm payroll data, which exceeded market expectations. The weaker-than-anticipated labor market figures could signal underlying economic vulnerabilities, influencing investor sentiment and future policy decisions.
On Tuesday local time, preliminary benchmark revision data for non-farm payrolls released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that U.S. non-farm employment was significantly revised downward by 911,000 for the year ending March 2025. This figure was worse than the economists’ consensus expectation of a 700,000 downward revision. In the eyes of investors, a weak labor market may indicate that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy are more fragile than expected, though not yet facing recession risks. The poor jobs data was seen as favorable for pushing the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates sooner or more persistently. Market risk appetite remained high, with technology and AI-related stocks generally rising. The three major U.S. stock indices collectively closed higher on Tuesday, all setting new closing record highs. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43%, the S&P 500 gained 0.27%, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.37%.
On the corporate front, tech giant Apple held its annual fall product launch event on Tuesday, unveiling new models of its latest generation iPhone, Bluetooth earbuds, and smartwatches. Notably, the mid-range and high-end models of the new phones saw price increases compared to the previous generation, marking Apple’s first hike in the starting price of new products since 2017. Investors are still assessing the sales prospects of the new products. Apple’s stock closed down 1.48% on Tuesday, extending losses in after-hours trading.
In precious metals futures, the significant downward revision of U.S. annual non-farm payroll data strengthened market expectations that the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates sooner or more persistently. International gold prices fluctuated higher on Tuesday, briefly breaking through the $3,700 per ounce psychological barrier during the session and closing at another record high. At the close, December gold futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $3,682.2 per ounce, up 0.13%.
In crude oil futures, Israel’s surprise attack on Hamas in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Tuesday shocked all parties. U.S. President Trump commented on the attack, calling it “terrible.” Investors worried that Israel’s move could reignite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, pushing international oil prices higher on Tuesday. At the close, October delivery light sweet crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled at $62.63 per barrel, up 0.59%. November delivery Brent crude futures on the London ICE Futures Europe exchange settled at $66.39 per barrel, up 0.56%.
U.S. software and cloud services giant Oracle released its Q1 fiscal 2026 earnings report after the market closed on Tuesday. Although the company’s revenue and earnings per share for the quarter missed expectations, significant investments by major U.S. tech companies in infrastructure like AI data centers drove strong growth in Oracle’s cloud infrastructure business. Company executives stated they would increase capital expenditures to build new data centers across multiple locations in the U.S. and projected that AI-related cloud infrastructure business would grow at a rate higher than analyst expectations over the next four years. Following the earnings release, Oracle’s stock surged approximately 27% in after-hours trading, also lifting shares of Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Super Micro Computer, and several other AI-related stocks.
In Europe, mining giant Anglo American, listed in London, announced a $53 billion merger agreement with Canada’s Teck Resources. The merged new mining group will be headquartered in Canada and is expected to be listed in New York, Toronto, London, and Johannesburg. Following the announcement, Anglo American’s stock closed up over 9%, while Teck Resources’ shares listed in Frankfurt closed up over 14%. The three major European stock indices closed mixed on Tuesday. At the close, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.23%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.19%, and Germany’s DAX fell 0.37%.
