NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes surged on Friday, rebounding from the previous session’s selloff as Amazon’s strong earnings countered Apple’s weaker China sales as well as a significant drop in US jobs growth in October.
Amazon.com soared nearly 7%, on track for its best day since February, as strong retail sales lifted its profit above Wall Street estimates.
Meanwhile, Apple dropped 1.8%, the only so-called Magnificent Seven member in the red, as investors worried about a decline in its China sales.
Cost warnings on AI-related infrastructure from Meta Platforms and Microsoft saw the Nasdaq log its worst day in nearly two months on Thursday.
“When you look at expectations for the Magnificent Seven megacaps, there’s been an expectation that the tree was going to grow to the sky - so far, earnings have been a mixed bag and when you look at valuations, there is some room to pull back,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer at Commonwealth.
Equity markets broadly overlooked weak US 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 ahead of the US presidential election.
“The unemployment number is holding steady, so I’m not worried about (the labor market) just yet,” McMillan said. After the data was released, investors largely stuck to bets that the central bank would cut rates by 25 basis points in November as well as December.
The Nov. 5 US election is on investors’ minds, with many analysts predicting a close race and some uncertainty over the final outcome. The Fed’s November meeting kicks off the following day.
Unsurprisingly, equity volatility has risen in recent days, with the CBOE Volatility Index trading around its highest in three weeks, though it eased slightly from nearly a two-month high on Thursday.
Rising Treasury yields are also likely to add pressure to equities, with the benchmark 10-year note at a nearly four-month high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 472.54 points, or 1.13%, to 42,236.00, the S&P 500 gained 51.35 points, or 0.90%, to 5,756.80 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 223.31 points, or 1.23%, to 18,318.46.
Most S&P 500 sectors gained ground, barring dips in Utility and Real Estate stocks, while Amazon.com’s gains lifted the Consumer Discretionary index to a more than two-year high.
The Dow was set for slight weekly gains, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were on track for declines.
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