Investing.com -- U.S. stocks rose Friday as investors digested strong earnings from tech giant Amazon, while the US economy added far fewer jobs than anticipated in October, cementing a Fed rate cut next week.
At 1 p.m. ET (17:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 337 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 index was 0.6%, higher, and the NASDAQ Composite added 0.9%.
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 revenue pushed its stock marginally 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.