(Updates with index/price moves, macroeconomic data and company news from the first paragraph.)
US equity indexes rose after government bond yields sank and odds in favor of an October monetary policy tightening slumped following Thursday's manufacturing and labor market data.
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5% to 26,986.1, the S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to 7,679.2, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed less than 0.1% to 50,918.2 after midday.
The Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index fell to 54.5 in September from 54.6 in August, compared with expectations for an increase to 55.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.
The S&P Global US manufacturing index for September was revised downwards to 55.9 from the flash reading of 57.0, compared with expectations for no revision in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.
US Treasury yields dropped across the curve. The two-year yield slumped 8.5 basis points to 4.80%, and the 10-year rate dropped 4.8 basis points to 5.24%.
Traders slashed the near-term probability of the Federal Reserve raising its target rate by 25 basis points in October to 34% from 69% a week ago, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.
Meanwhile, employers in the US announced 43,281 layoffs in September, down 18% from the month prior and 20% year over year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas' latest report. Initial jobless claims fell sequentially to 197,000 in the week ended Sept. 26 from an upwardly revised 198,000 in the previous week, according to the US Labor Department.
In company news, Micron Technology (MU) reported a year-over-year jump in fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings and revenue, and set out fiscal Q1 guidance above consensus estimates late Wednesday. Its shares rose 1.4% in the session.
Accenture (ACN) reported stronger-than-expected fiscal Q4 results on Thursday, and forecast annual earnings and revenue growth in the fiscal year that just began. Shares surged 18%, the top gainer on the S&P 500.
Paramount Skydance (PSKY) CEO David Ellison has asked CNN CEO Mark Thompson to continue after Paramount completes its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Paramount shares sank about 8%, notable among the S&P 500's worst performers.
By the end of November, which is after the US mid-term elections, three aircraft carriers and two landing groups will be deployed around Iran, a US official told Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster. Iran is preparing a broader and more forceful response if the US resumes large-scale military attacks, unnamed sources told Reuters, while continuing a diplomatic push that Iranian officials privately see as unlikely to succeed.
The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract climbed 2.9% to $93.05 per barrel, and the global benchmark North Sea Brent advanced 4.6% to $102.54 per barrel.