Wall Street Closes Higher As Amazon's Gains Offset Weak Job Growth

Wall Street's major indices 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, reported Abigail Summerville for Reuters.

Amazon.com surged 6.2% after its latest earnings report showed strong retail sales, boosting profit beyond Wall Street estimates. I Photo: Amazon

Amazon.com surged 6.2% after its latest earnings report showed strong retail sales, boosting profit beyond Wall Street estimates. Meanwhile, Apple fell 1.2% amid investor concerns about a drop in its China sales in the recent quarter.

Other members of the so-called Magnificent Seven, including Meta Platforms and Microsoft, also reported earnings earlier in the week and warned of rising AI-related infrastructure costs, contributing to the Nasdaq's decline on Thursday.

"A new month often brings renewed optimism for investors—especially after Thursday’s sharp decline—and with encouraging results from Apple and Amazon," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.

Equity markets largely shrugged off weak U.S. October nonfarm payroll data, which showed a mere 12,000 jobs added, far below economists' forecast of a 113,000 increase.

However, the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%, reassuring investors of the labor market’s resilience. Following the jobs data release, investors largely maintained expectations that the central bank would cut interest rates by 25 basis points in November.