NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon and Intel are helping to pull U.S. stock indexes higher, while yields skid in the bond market following a surprisingly weak jobs report that was marred by hurricanes and other unusual occurrences. The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher early Friday and recovering some of its worst loss in eight weeks from the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 276 points, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher. Amazon rallied after delivering a stronger profit than analysts expected. Intel climbed after giving a better-than-expected outlook. Exxon Mobil and Chevron also rose after beating analysts’ profit forecasts.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Wall Street pointed toward gains in premarket trading as investors seemed unfazed by the government's latest jobs numbers, which came in much lower than expected due to worker strikes and hurricanes.
Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.5% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%.
The Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employers added just 12,000 jobs in October, far less than the 115,000 analysts forecast.
Last month’s hiring gain was down significantly from the 223,000 jobs added in September. Economists estimated that Hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with strikes at Boeing and elsewhere, had the effect of pushing down net job growth by tens of thousands of jobs last month. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
In the meantime, companies continue to report their latest financial results, including tech heavyweights Apple and Amazon.
Amazon shares jumped 7.3% overnight after the online retail giant reported a jump in quarterly profits Thursday, earning $15.3 billion in the third quarter, or $1.43 per share. That easily beat Wall Street forecasts, which called for profits of $1.14 per share. Revenue also came in ahead of analysts' forecasts, boosted by the company’s popular Prime Day shopping event held in July.
Apple slid 1.7% in extended trading despite beating Wall Street's sales and profit expectations. Investors were apparently disappointed by the company's forecast that implied its revenue for the October-December quarter — which covers the holiday shopping season — might not grow as robustly as analysts envisioned.
Exxon Mobil rose close to 2% after the oil and gas giant's third-quarter profit beat analysts’ expectations, helped by contributions from recent acquisition Pioneer Natural Resources. Rival Chevron rose 2.1% after it also beat sales and profit targets.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 added 0.4%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.6% and Britain’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.9%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 2.6% to 38,053.67. On Thursday, the Bank of Japan announced it would keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 0.25%, which was in line with market expectations. The Japanese yen traded lower Friday. The dollar rose to 152.78 Japanese yen from 152.00 yen.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was the exception to Friday's downturn vibe. It added 0.9% to 20,506.43, while the Shanghai Composite index was up in morning trading but slipped 0.2% later in the day to close at 3,272.01.
Factory activity in China went back into growth in October, with the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index released Thursday reaching 50.1, ending five straight months of contraction. Another private survey Friday showed a reading of 50.3, above the expansion line of 50.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.5% to 8,118.80 after its producer price index in the third quarter rose 3.9% year-on-year — a return to below 4.0% annual growth for the first time since September 2023, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5% to 2,543.36. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.2%, weighed down by a 0.5% decline in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., Apple's chip supplier. Apple’s quarterly earnings report Thursday revealed a drop in sales revenue from China.
In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.61 to $70.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, surged $1.51 to $74.32 per barrel.
The euro fell to $1.0870 from $1.0885.
Zimo Zhong And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
