US close: Stocks gain on weak jobs report, strong earnings

US stocks rebounded on Friday while bond yields surged as a much lower-than-expected jobs report made life easier for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy next week.

The Dow finished 0.7% higher at 42,052.19 after three days of losses, while the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to 5,728.80 and the Nasdaq rose 0.8% to 18,239.92.

"This week's late-October rout in stock indices was followed by a positive start to the month as bargain hunters stepped in and the US-10 year yield slumped after an extremely weak US non-farm payrolls jobs report," said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG.

The yield on a 10-year US Treasury was up 10.7 basis points at 4.397% – its highest level since July.

Economic data steals focus

The US economy added just 12,000 jobs in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well below September's downwardly revised 223,000 print and expectations of 113,000.

Last month's non-farm payrolls figure market the weakest level of job growth since December 2020 – when 243,000 jobs were lost – as a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as strikes at Boeing. The unemployment rate, on the other hand, held steady month-on-month at 4.1%, in line with market expectations.

"It is likely that the Fed will look through these employment numbers, and instead November numbers will be worth watching to see the trend in the US labor market and any revisions to the October data," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

Elsewhere on the macro front, the S&P Global manufacturing PMI was upwardly revised to 48.5 in October, up from a preliminary reading of 47.8 and following September's 15-month low of 47.3.

The Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing PMI unexpectedly fell to 46.5 in October, down from 47.2 in September and short of expectations of 47.6, pointing to yet another contraction in manufacturing sector activity.

Finally, construction spending rose by 0.1% month-on-month in September, according to the Census Bureau, coming in at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of $2.12bn, slightly exceeding forecasts for a flat reading. Private spending was flat in September, with the residential segment up 0.2% and the non-residential segment down 0.1%.

Market movers

Apple posted better-than-expected quarterly profits but shares fell 1% after earnings were impacted by a one-time charge related to the reversal of a European General Court decision that will require it to pay €13.0bn in back taxes to the Irish government.

Shares in Amazon jumped 6% after reporting third-quarter earnings that beat expectations as its cloud and advertising units showed strong growth.

Intel was also up 8% after revenues fell less than forecast in the third quarter while the chipmaker's full-year guidance impressed the market.

Energy giant Chevron also beat third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations as it returned a record amount of cash to shareholders.

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.20 7.81%
Boeing Co. (BA) $154.59 3.54%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $153.07 2.86%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $55.50 1.33%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $78.06 1.21%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $294.72 1.15%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $295.21 1.06%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $410.37 0.99%
American Express Co. (AXP) $272.69 0.97%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $379.63 0.91%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $41.36 -1.83%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $222.91 -1.33%
3M Co. (MMM) $127.22 -0.97%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $48.97 -0.83%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $65.01 -0.46%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $101.88 -0.43%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $95.81 -0.41%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $392.59 -0.29%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $319.22 -0.29%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $245.64 -0.12%

S&P 500 - Risers

Waters Corp. (WAT) $387.21 19.84%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $366.49 11.87%
CenturyLink Inc. (LUMN) $7.00 9.55%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.20 7.81%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $116.13 7.01%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $197.93 6.19%
McKesson Corp. (MCK) $526.34 5.14%
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) $58.59 5.06%
Teleflex Inc. (TFX) $211.21 5.05%
Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) $136.87 5.03%

S&P 500 - Fallers

AES Corp. (AES) $14.71 -10.79%
Entergy Corp. (ETR) $144.79 -6.45%
Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $22.71 -5.06%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $86.72 -4.07%
Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN) $101.08 -3.82%
Alliant Energy Corp. (LNT) $57.74 -3.77%
ONEOK Inc. (OKE) $93.36 -3.63%
Lincoln National Corp. (LNC) $33.52 -3.54%
Estee Lauder Co. Inc. (EL) $66.58 -3.42%
Eversource Energy (ES) $63.67 -3.31%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $366.49 11.87%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $23.20 7.81%
Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $197.93 6.19%
Illumina Inc. (ILMN) $149.76 3.90%
Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $27.65 3.71%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $20.51 3.53%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $21.30 3.30%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $66.60 3.03%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $0.55 2.75%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $76.13 2.71%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) $28.27 -2.89%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $77.25 -2.59%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $79.12 -1.73%
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (CHKP) $170.50 -1.56%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $222.91 -1.33%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $90.02 -1.33%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $99.10 -1.27%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRTX) $471.12 -1.02%
PACCAR Inc. (PCAR) $103.35 -0.89%
CSX Corp. (CSX) $33.39 -0.74%