Wall Street closed higher as Amazon’s profits offset weak job gains. By Reuters

Abigail Somerville

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Friday, rebounding from the previous day’s sell-off as Amazon’s strong performance countered a significant decline in U.S. job growth in October.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) rose 6.2% after reporting earnings Thursday, boosting earnings above Wall Street expectations on strong retail sales.

Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:) fell 1.2% as investors worried about declining sales in China during the most recent quarter.

So-called Magnificent Seven members Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) also dragged the Nasdaq lower on Thursday after reporting earnings earlier this week and warning about AI-related infrastructure costs.

“A new month often brings renewed optimism for investors, especially after yesterday’s selloff and encouraging results from Apple and Amazon,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. Even more so,” he said.

Stock markets were hit by a weak U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for October due to disruption from hurricanes and strikes. The data showed an increase of 12,000 jobs, much smaller than the 113,000 gain economists had estimated.

However, the unemployment rate remained stable at 4.1%, giving investors confidence that the labor market remains on solid footing.

After the employment data was released, investors were betting heavily that the central bank would cut interest rates by 25 basis points in November.

“Third quarter earnings, interest rates and the election will continue to be key drivers in the near term,” Stovall said.

It closed at 42,052.19, up 288.73 points (0.69%), at 5,728.80, up 23.35 points (0.41%), and at 18,239.92, up 144.77 points (0.80%).

All three indexes were down throughout the week, with the S&P 500 down 1.38%, the Nasdaq down 1.51%, and the Dow down 0.16%.

The US election is on investors’ minds, with many analysts predicting a tight presidential race and uncertainty about the final outcome. The Federal Reserve’s November meeting begins the next day.

Amazon.com’s gains helped the Consumer Discretionary Index rise 2.4% to its highest level in more than two years, while utility and real estate stocks were among the biggest sector decliners.

Intel (NASDAQ:) rose 7.8% on better-than-expected earnings forecasts. The chip stock index rose 1%.

chevron (NYSE:) shares rose 2.8% after the company beat third-quarter profit estimates on increased oil production.

On the NYSE, declining issues outnumbered advancing issues by a 1.21:1 ratio. The NYSE had 88 new highs and 93 new lows.

The S&P 500 index recorded 10 52-week highs and 6 new lows, and the Nasdaq Composite index recorded 67 new highs and 123 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.13 billion shares, compared to an average of 11.71 billion shares for the full session over the last 20 trading days.