Jobs report surprises Wall Street – here’s what it means for your 401(K), loans and mortgage

The U.S. economy comfortably exceeded expectations for job growth last month, according to new data released Friday.

Employers added an estimated 254,000 jobs in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is much higher than August’s job growth of 159,000, and exceeded economists’ expectations for an increase of 140,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate also fell to 4.1 percent, despite forecasts that it would remain stable at 4.2 percent.

Stocks rose after the blockbuster report, which gave Wall Street reassurance that the job market is on solid footing.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.7 percent, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent.

The pre-market progress marked a major turn for Wall Street after rising geopolitical tensions made for a rocky start to October.

The report also revised the job growth numbers for August and July.

It added 17,000 jobs to August’s total, bringing it to 159,000, and added 55,000 jobs to July’s total, pushing monthly growth to 144,000.

These upward revisions should ease concerns about the state of the labor market and likely lock the Federal Reserve into a more gradual pace of rate cuts after last month’s massive cut.

As inflation continues to cool, the central bank has reiterated its mandate to ensure that there is no sharp deterioration in the labor market either.

This is a breaking news story. Updates are coming.