Wall St closes higher as Amazon’s gains offset weak job growth

By Abigail Summerville

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s major indexes ended higher on Friday, rebounding from the previous day’s sell-off as Amazon’s strong earnings countered a significant drop in U.S. job growth in October.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) rose 6.2% after it reported earnings on Thursday that revealed strong retail sales, boosting profit above Wall Street estimates.

Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:) fell 1.2% as investors worried about a decline in its China sales during its most recent quarter.

Other so-called Magnificent Seven members Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) also reported earnings earlier this week and warned on AI-related infrastructure costs, dragging the Nasdaq down on Thursday.

“A new month frequently seems to offer new optimism for investors – especially after we saw a sharp decline yesterday – and after seeing encouraging results from Apple and Amazon,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

Equity markets brushed off weak U.S. October nonfarm payrolls data, given disruptions from hurricanes and strikes. The data showed an increase of 12,000 jobs, much smaller than economists’ estimate of a 113,000 rise.

However, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, reassuring investors the labor market remained on solid ground.

After the jobs data was released, investors largely stuck to bets that the central bank would cut rates by 25 basis points in November.

“Third-quarter earnings, interest rates and the election continue to be the main drivers in the near term,” Stovall said.

The rose 288.73 points, or 0.69%, to 42,052.19, the gained 23.35 points, or 0.41%, to 5,728.80 and the gained 144.77 points, or 0.80%, to 18,239.92.

All three indexes were down for the week overall, with the S&P 500 falling 1.38%, the Nasdaq dropping 1.51% and the Dow slipping 0.16%.

The U.S. election is on investors’ minds, with many analysts predicting a close presidential race and some uncertainty over the final outcome. The Fed’s November meeting kicks off the following 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 sectoral decliners.

Intel (NASDAQ:) jumped 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 profit estimates on higher oil output.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 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 posted ten new 52-week highs 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 with the 11.71 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.