October average hourly earnings +4.0 year/year vs. +4.0% est. & 3.9% in prior month (rev. up down +4.0%) pic.twitter.com/kfAtIMHHxm
— Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) November 1, 2024
U.S. stocks rallied on Friday as a surge in Amazon shares helped offset a sharp slowdown in job growth for October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 288.73 points, or 0.69%, to close at 42,052.19. The S&P 500 gained 0.41% to finish at 5,728.80, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.8% to 18,239.92.
Amazon jumped 7.8% after exceeding analysts’ forecasts for revenue and offering strong guidance. The company’s robust performance helped lift investor sentiment following some notable earnings disappointments this week.
October nonfarm payrolls +12k vs. +100k est. & 223k in prior month (rev. down from 254k) pic.twitter.com/8IVdDWt0fN
— Liz Ann Sonders (@LizAnnSonders) November 1, 2024
The jobs 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 level of job creation since December 2020. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, in line with estimates. Traders believed that the dismal data was affected by hurricanes and a Boeing strike.
#MarketAlert | US: Markets closed in the green despite weak jobs report#UnitedStates #Dowjones #Nasdaq #Amazon #Intel pic.twitter.com/gAby5o3LRu
— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) November 2, 2024
12,000 US Jobs were added in October, the smallest gain since December 2020 and well below estimates for a 125k increase. The prior two months were both revised down (-31k in September, -81k in August). This was, however, the 46th consecutive month of payroll growth in the US. pic.twitter.com/BkvysH4Dis
— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) November 1, 2024
Amazon surge boosts stocks
“Friday’s jobs report showed that the labor market decelerated quite significantly in October compared to September,” said Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Bellwether Wealth. “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 November 5, which has led to elevated volatility, investors are also looking toward the Fed’s two-day policy meeting on November 6-7.
The major averages are wrapping up a choppy week. The S&P 500 lost 1.4% in the period, while the Nasdaq slid 1.5%. The 30-stock Dow inched down 0.2% for the week.
The strong start to November comes after a difficult October for the market. The Dow pulled back 1.3% in October, the S&P 500 fell 1%, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.5%. In commodities, bonds, and crypto, crude oil rose 2.69% to $71.12 a barrel, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, was higher by 2.36% to $74.53 a barrel.
Gold jumped 0.76% to $22,770.10 an ounce, and the 10-year Treasury yield declined 2 basis points to 4.269%. Bitcoin increased 0.05% to $70,245.
