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Dominican Republic Unveils Massive Rare Earth Deposits to Boost High-Tech and Energy Sectors 
Australian Dollar Rallies on Hawkish RBA Outlook; Yen Slips as BOJ Faces Political Pressure 
Japan Nominates Reflationist Economists to BOJ Board, Signaling Policy Shift 
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Bank of Korea Holds Interest Rate at 2.50% as Growth Outlook Improves Amid AI Chip Boom 
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Strait of Hormuz Oil and LNG Shipments Disrupted After U.S.-Israel Strikes on Iran 
Stock Market Movers: Dell, Block, Duolingo, Zscaler, CoreWeave, Autodesk, Rocket, MARA 
PBOC Scraps FX Risk Reserves to Curb Rapid Yuan Appreciation 
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Nonfarm employment rose by 254,000 in September, exceeding the average expectation of 150,000. Revisions for employment growth in the prior two months added another 72,000. Over the latest three months, average payroll gains were 186,000, somewhat lower than the previous year's average of 203,000.
Private payrolls increased by 223,000, with the most significant increases in leisure and hospitality (+78,000), health care and social assistance (+71,700), construction (+25,000), and professional and business services (+17,000. Last month, government employment added 31,000 new jobs.
Positively, the hiring breadth increased to 57.6 in September, which is the highest number in the previous eight months.
The household survey showed a 430k increase in civilian employment, significantly surpassing the labor force's more moderate growth of 150k, resulting in a tenth of a percentage point decrease in the unemployment rate to 4.1%. For the third consecutive month, the labor force participation rate remained constant at 62.7%.
The average hourly earnings (AHE) showed a slight decline from August's upwardly revised estimate of 0.5% m/m, rising by 0.4% month over month (m/m).
