US equity indexes experienced notable gains, primarily driven by strong performance in consumer discretionary and technology sectors following Amazon.com's quarterly earnings that boosted market sentiment. The S&P 500 increased by 0.8% to 5,750.9 by midday Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.2% to 18,313.9, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1% to 42,182.4, although utilities were the main decliners intraday. RBC Capital Markets highlighted that retail and cloud computing significantly contributed to Amazon's third-quarter performance, which outpaced market expectations.
Shares of the online retail giant soared by over 6% during the day, marking it as one of the top performers across the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow. Amazon's positive earnings report effectively countered a technology-led selloff seen in the previous trading session, according to insights from D.A. Davidson. In other company news, Waters’ stock surged 18% intraday, buoyed by third-quarter adjusted earnings and sales that surpassed analysts' forecasts.
The firm also provided an optimistic outlook, raising its earnings guidance for 2024. Waters was the top performer on the S&P 500 for the day. Apple reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that exceeded expectations late Thursday; however, the company faced a significant one-time tax charge of $10.2 billion in relation to a European court ruling disclosed in September.
Consequently, shares of the iPhone manufacturer dipped by 1.5% intraday, marking it among the poorer performers on both the Nasdaq and the Dow. On the economic front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 12,000 in nonfarm payrolls for October, falling short of the consensus estimate of a 100,000 rise, as per a Bloomberg survey.
This marked October's employment growth as the weakest since December 2020. Payroll figures for September and August were revised downwards by 31,000 and 81,000, respectively. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, aligning with market expectations for October. TD Economics Senior Economist Thomas Feltmate remarked, "Between the ongoing Boeing strike and the devastating impacts of (hurricanes) Helene and Milton, we knew this was going to be a messy employment report.
However, given the various factors influencing last month's numbers, it's too early to draw any meaningful conclusions from today's report." The Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index fell to 46.5 in October from 47.2 in September, missing expectations of 47.6 based on Bloomberg's survey.
Meanwhile, the S&P Global US manufacturing index for October saw an upward revision to 48.5 from an earlier reading of 47.8, exceeding expectations for no revision. October's figure is higher than the 47.3 registered in September, signaling a slower contraction in the manufacturing sector. US Treasury yields fluctuated during the day, with the 10-year yield rising by 5.7 basis points to 4.34%, the highest it has been since early July. In commodity markets, West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased by 1% to $69.89 a barrel.
Additionally, news from Axios indicated that Iran is preparing to launch a drone and missile attack on Israel from Iraq, citing information from two unnamed Israeli sources. Gold prices rose 0.2% to $2,753.81 per ounce, while silver saw a slight decline of 0.1%, trading at $32.76 an ounce..