What happened Shares of industrial giants 3M (NYSE: MMM), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), and Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) were rallying hard on Friday, up 8.5%, 8.2%, and 5.2%, respectively, as of 3 p.m. While the lower-than-feared settlement news might have lowered perceived risk for peers, the other industrial stocks were likely higher due to today's better-than-expected jobs report, allaying fears over a potential economic downturn. Decelerating wage growth without job losses is potentially a "soft landing" scenario in which inflation may decrease without a big rise in unemployment, and it was clearly embraced by the markets today.