US stocks climb strongly after weak payrolls; Amazon impresses
Investing.com — U.S. stocks rose Friday as investors digested strong earnings from tech giant Amazon, while the US economy added far fewer jobs than anticipated in October, cementing a Fed rate cut next week.
By 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 200 points, or 0.5%, the S&P 500 index traded 30 points, or 0.5%, higher, and the NASDAQ Composite climbed 115 points, or 0.6%.
Weak payrolls report
Economic data released earlier Friday showed that the US economy added just 12,000 to nonfarm payrolls in October, far fewer than the 106,000 expected and a sharp drop from the downwardly revised 223,000 in September.
The figures, however, were impacted by devastating recent hurricanes and ongoing labor actions.
“It is likely that payroll employment estimates in some industries were affected by the hurricanes; however, it is not possible to quantify the net effect on the over-the-month change in national employment, hours, or earnings estimates because the establishment survey is not designed to isolate effects from extreme weather events,” the Labor Department said in a statement.
The Federal Reserve meets next week, and this release is unlikely to change expectations that policymakers will agree to cut interest rates once more, this time probably by 25 basis points.
Apple, Amazon in spotlight
Tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) released quarterly results after the close of trading Thursday.
Apple stock fell around 2% after the iPhone maker unveiled a current-quarter revenue outlook in the low- to mid-single-digits, missing the top-end of Wall Street estimates, in a possible sign of caution ahead of the key holiday trading period.
Amazon, by contrast, rose over 7% after the e-commerce behemoth posted an 11% jump in overall quarterly revenues versus a year ago, outpacing Wall Street estimates, as it benefited from “once in a lifetime” opportunities from so-called generative AI.
Oil majors Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) both rose over 2% after releasing solid profit numbers and hefty share buybacks.
Crude ends week on positive note
Oil prices rose Friday, paring some of the week’s losses, on raised geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel.
By 13:35 ET, the Brent contract climbed 2.2% to $74.43 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 2.5% higher at $71.00 per barrel.
Both contracts are on track to fall up to 2% this week, after slumping more than 6% on Monday on the reduced risk of a wider Middle East conflict.
Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, Axios reported on Thursday, citing Israeli intelligence, in response to Israel’s strike against Iran on Oct. 26.
Also impacting sentiment was the release of data in China, which showed manufacturing activity in the top oil importer swung back to growth in October, according to a private-sector survey, echoing an official report published earlier in the week.