Stock market today: S&P 500 shrugs off weaker jobs report to close higher

Investing.com -- The S&P 500 closed higher Friday, as a big miss on job gains in the October payrolls report cemented a Fed rate cut next week, while a rally in Amazon boosted consumer stocks.

At 4 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 228 points, or 0.7%, the S&P 500 index was 0.4%, higher, and the NASDAQ Composite added 0.8%. Weak payrolls report supports Fed rate cut bets 

Economic data released earlier Friday showed that the US economy added just 12,000 to nonfarm payrolls in October, far fewer than the 106,000 expected and a sharp drop from the downwardly revised 223,000 in September.

The figures, however, were impacted by devastating recent hurricanes and ongoing labor actions.

The Federal Reserve  meets next week, and this release is unlikely to change expectations that policymakers will agree to cut interest rates once more, this time probably by 25 basis points.

"While greater clarity should emerge on the labor market's trajectory with the release of November data, today's result should keep the Fed on course for further near-term rate cuts," Macquarie said in a Friday note.

"We continue to expect 25 bps reductions in each of November and December," it added. Apple, Amazon in spotlight

Tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN ) released quarterly results after the close of trading Thursday.

Apple stock fell more than 1% after the iPhone maker unveiled a current-quarter revenue outlook in the low- to mid-single-digits, missing the top-end of Wall Street estimates, in a possible sign of caution ahead of the key holiday trading period.

Amazon, by contrast, rose over 6% after the e-commerce behemoth posted an 11% jump in overall quarterly revenues versus a year ago, outpacing Wall Street estimates, as it benefited from "once in a lifetime" opportunities from so-called generative AI. Energy stumbles as oil majors roll out earnings

Energy was trading around the flatline as oil majors including Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM ) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX ) delivered better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Exxon Mobil's miss on quarterly revenue estimates pushed its stock more than 1% lower. 

Still rising oil prices kept a losses in the broader energy sector, underpinned by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel.

Source: Investing.com