U.S. stocks rallied Friday to start November, with Amazon leading big tech stocks higher as investors looked past a disappointing jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 288.73 points, or 0.69%, to close at 42,052.19. The S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 5,728.80, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.8% to 18,239.92.
Amazon surged 6.2% as strong performance in its cloud and advertising businesses helped the e-commerce giant beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations. The company exceeded analysts’ forecasts for revenue and provided upbeat guidance. Amazon’s gains helped lift investor sentiment following some notable earnings disappointments earlier in the week.
Megacap tech stocks are still ‘the tail wagging the dog,'” remarked Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. “You’re seeing some broadening, but it’s still such a massive component right now.”
A report released Friday showed the U.S. economy added just 12,000 jobs in October, far below the Dow Jones estimate of 100,000. This marked the weakest job growth since December 2020.
The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%, in line with estimates. However, traders largely shrugged off the weak jobs data, attributing the dismal figures to hurricanes and a Boeing labor strike. Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth, commented, “Friday’s jobs report showed that the labor market decelerated quite significantly in October compared to September.
But this was a noisy number largely due to hurricanes and labor strikes, so it’s unlikely that this weakness is going to cause the Federal Reserve to pivot away from its expected 25 basis point rate cut at the November meeting.
In addition to the U.S. presidential election on Nov.
Amazon lifts Nasdaq despite weak jobs
5, which has led to heightened volatility, investors are also anticipating the Fed’s two-day policy meeting on Nov.
6-7. The major averages are ending a choppy week. The S&P 500 lost 1.4% for the period, while the Nasdaq slid 1.5%.
Postearnings slumps weighed on the indexes. The 30-stock Dow edged down 0.2% week-to-date. The strong start to November follows a challenging October for the market.
The Dow pulled back 1.3% last month. The S&P 500 fell 1%, while the Nasdaq dipped 0.5%. Bitcoin slipped below $70,000 to begin November, after struggling all year to break above that level and nearing its all-time high this week.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last down 1.6%, trading at $69,182.90. It closed October at $70,334.10, gaining 10.86% for the month in back-to-back monthly gains, its best month since May 2024 when it rose 13.04%. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, increased 0.3% to 104.30 Friday despite the weaker-than-expected October jobs data.
The greenback also climbed 0.6% against the Japanese yen, trading near 153 yen.
