US open: Stocks sharply higher following NFP reading

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street stocks were sharply higher at the bell on Friday as traders digested last month's all-important jobs report. As of 1440 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.14% at 42,239.98, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.06% to 5,765.94 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.36% firmer at 18,340.92.

The Dow opened 476.52 points higher on Friday, more than reversing losses recorded in the previous session.

Friday's primary focus was set to be October's non-farm payrolls report, which revealed the US economy added 12,000 jobs in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, well below September's downwardly revised 223,000 print and expectations of 113,000.

Last month's non-farm payrolls figure market the weakest level of job growth since December 2020, when 243,000 jobs were lost, as a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as strikes at Boeing. The unemployment rate, on the other hand, held steady month-on-month at 4.1%, in line with market expectations.

Tech earnings were also in focus at the open, with Apple posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings but said earnings had been impacted by a one-time charge related to the reversal of a European General Court decision that will require it to pay €13.0bn in back taxes to the Irish government, while Amazon also said quarterly earnings beat expectations after its cloud and advertising units showed strong growth.

Elsewhere on the macro front, the S&P Global manufacturing PMI was upwardly revised to 48.5 in October, up from a preliminary reading of 47.8 and following September's 15-month low of 47.3.

On another note, the Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing PMI unexpectedly fell to 46.5 in October, down from 47.2 in September and short of expectations of 47.6, pointing to yet another contraction in manufacturing sector activity.

Finally, construction spending rose by 0.1% month-on-month in September, according to the Census Bureau, coming in at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of $2.12bn, slightly exceeding forecasts for a flat reading. Private spending was flat in September, with the residential segment up 0.2% and the non-residential segment down 0.1%.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.92 6.48% Chevron Corp. (CVX) $154.52 3.83% Boeing Co. (BA) $153.76 2.98% McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $296.78 1.60% Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $381.93 1.52% JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $225.02 1.40% American Express Co. (AXP) $273.80 1.38% Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $524.67 1.33% Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $411.08 1.16% International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $209.11 1.15%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $101.41 -0.89% Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $41.76 -0.88% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $224.25 -0.73% 3M Co. (MMM) $128.13 -0.26% Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $65.18 -0.20% Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $96.04 -0.17% Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00% Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $49.38 0.01% Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $320.20 0.01% Visa Inc. (V) $289.99 0.05%

S&P 500 - Risers

Waters Corp. (WAT) $377.76 16.91% Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $369.93 12.66% Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $116.51 7.36% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $199.33 6.94% Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.95 6.65% Mettler Toledo International (MTD) $1,360.00 5.28% Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) $136.93 5.08% McKesson Corp. (MCK) $524.88 4.85% Church Dwight Co Inc. (CHD) $104.75 4.84% Abbott Laboratories (ABT) $118.82 4.80%

S&P 500 - Fallers

AES Corp. (AES) $15.58 -5.52% Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $76.86 -3.08% Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN) $102.12 -2.83% Entergy Corp. (ETR) $150.62 -2.69% Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) $54.58 -2.13% Coterra Energy Inc. (CTRA) $23.42 -2.09% FMC Corp. (FMC) $63.81 -1.82% Alliant Energy Corp. (LNT) $58.92 -1.81% Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $73.32 -1.70% Mattel Inc. (MAT) $20.05 -1.62%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $369.93 12.92% Amazon.Com Inc. (AMZN) $199.33 6.94% Intel Corp. (INTC) $22.95 6.65% Sirius XM Holdings Inc (SIRI) $28.42 6.60% Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $20.78 4.90% Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $21.57 4.58% Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $137.06 3.24% Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $419.97 3.21% Microchip Technology Inc. (MCHP) $75.14 2.41% Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $66.87 2.39%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $76.86 -3.08% Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (CTSH) $73.32 -1.70% Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) $28.83 -0.96% NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $79.75 -0.94% Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) $287.38 -0.64% Verisk Analytics Inc. (VRSK) $273.00 -0.63% Apple Inc. (AAPL) $224.52 -0.62% Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $90.82 -0.45% Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $150.28 -0.38% Hasbro Inc (HAS) $65.39 -0.37%