Indexes are rising as Amazon improves technology and employment data, boosting interest rate cuts

• US stocks started November with gains, even though the latest jobs were much weaker than expected.

• Job growth was the lowest since December 2020, hit by hurricanes and the Boeing strike.

• Amazon shares rose after its latest earnings results, while Apple fell after weak Chinese results.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday after the October jobs report missed economists’ expectations, opening the door for more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Major indexes rose, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising nearly 300 points. The Nasdaq Composite finished almost 1% higher.

The The US economy added 12,000 jobs in October well below economists’ estimates of 106,000, marking the lowest job growth since December 2020.

The weakness in the jobs report was caused by disruptions from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which hit Florida and North Carolina last month, and an ongoing strike by about 30,000 Boeing workers.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1%.

The weak jobs report strengthened the case for more Fed rate cuts, although it puts the Fed in a difficult position given the buzz surrounding the report.

“Given the storm-related distortion, the Fed is in a tough spot if it insists on data dependence,” said LPL chief economist Jeffrey Roach. “The Fed is likely to cut rates in its remaining two meetings as economic conditions weaken.”

Here’s where the US indexes stood at 4pm on Friday:

Investors also digested earnings results from mega-cap tech giants Amazon and Apple. Both companies beat analyst expectations by Amazon shares are up about 6%.

However, Apple shares fell after the earnings report weakness in its Chinese operations weighed on sentiment, falling more than 1% during Friday’s session.

Here’s what else happened today:

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas average crude rose 0.33% to $69.49 a barrel. Brent crude oilthe international benchmark, rose 0.37% to $73.08 per barrel.

• Gold fell 0.20% to $2,743.80 an ounce.

• The yield on ten-year government bonds rose by nine basis points to 4.382%.

• Bitcoin fell 1.53% to $69,132.

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