By Abigail Summerville
(Reuters) – Wall Street’s major indexes ended higher on Friday, recovering from the previous day’s sell-off as Amazon’s strong profits offset a significant decline in U.S. job growth in October.
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) rose 6.2% after reporting earnings Thursday that showed strong retail sales, pushing profits above Wall Street estimates.
Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:) fell 1.2% as investors worried about a drop in Chinese sales during the most recent quarter.
Other so-called Magnificent Seven members Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) also reported profits earlier this week and warned about AI-related infrastructure costs, dragging the Nasdaq lower on Thursday.
“A new month often seems to bring new optimism to investors – especially after we saw a sharp decline yesterday – and after encouraging results from Apple and Amazon,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
Stock markets ignored weak US payroll data for October, given the disruptions caused by hurricanes and strikes. The data showed an increase of 12,000 jobs, much smaller than economists’ estimate of an increase of 113,000.
However, the unemployment rate remained stable at 4.1%, reassuring investors that the labor market remained on solid footing.
After the jobs data was released, investors largely held on to expectations that the central bank would cut rates by 25 basis points in November.
“Q3 earnings, interest rates and the election remain the key near-term drivers,” Stovall said.
They rose 288.73 points, or 0.69%, to 42,052.19, they rose 23.35 points, or 0.41%, to 5,728.80 and they rose 144.77 points, or 0.80%, to 18,239.92.
All three indexes were down for the week, with the S&P 500 down 1.38%, the Nasdaq down 1.51% and the Dow Jones down 0.16%.
The US election is occupying investors’ attention, with many analysts predicting a close presidential race and some uncertainty about the final outcome. The Fed’s November meeting begins the next day.
Amazon.com’s gains lifted the Consumer Discretionary Index 2.4% to a more than two-year high, while utility and real estate stocks were the biggest decliners in the sector.
Intel (NASDAQ:) rose 7.8% after a better-than-expected revenue forecast. An index of chip stocks rose 1%.
Chevron (NYSE:) shares rose 2.8% after the company beat third-quarter earnings estimates on higher oil production.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing issues by a 1.21-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 88 new highs and 93 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 recorded ten new highs over the past 52 weeks and six new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 123 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.13 billion shares, compared to the full-session average of 11.71 billion over the past 20 trading days.
