By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock indexes jumped on Friday with Amazon.com shares rallying following the company’s stronger-than-expected results, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rebounded from an earlier drop after a weak U.S. jobs report.
Amazon.com shares were last up 7% after its late Thursday report. It also indicated that it expected healthy results in the holiday quarter.
The share gain helped offset a 1.7% decline in shares of Apple following the iPhone maker’s modest growth outlook.
“We’ve made it most of the way through the Big Tech names, and (results) were probably not as bad as people feared and, in some cases, were pretty good. So investors decided that the little bit of a sell-off we had the last couple of days was unwarranted,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.
Treasury yields initially tumbled after the jobs data, which showed the U.S. economy barely added any jobs in October, though the numbers were heavily disrupted by industrial action and hurricanes.
The U.S. unemployment rate, however, held steady at 4.1%, offering assurance that the labor market remained on a solid footing.
Benchmark 10-year yields were last up 2.5 basis points at 4.309% after earlier dropping to 4.222%. They reached a nearly four-month high of 4.339% on Tuesday.
Traders are now pricing in 99% odds of a 25-basis-point cut at the Fed’s Nov. 6-7 meeting, up from 93% before the data, and an 83% probability of a 25-basis-point reduction at both its November and December meetings, up from 71% earlier on Friday, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
The focus will now turn to the U.S. presidential election, with polls pointing to a knife-edge race. Polls, both nationally and in the seven closely divided states, show Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in almost a dead heat with four days to go before Election Day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 555.13 points, or 1.33%, to 42,318.59, the S&P 500 rose 58.08 points, or 1.02%, to 5,763.53 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 240.37 points, or 1.33%, to 18,335.52.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe was upe 6.61 points, or 0.79%, to 838.91. The STOXX 600 index rose 1.29%.
The dollar pared gains against the euro after the U.S. jobs data.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was last up 0.25% at 104.14, with the euro down 0.29% at $1.0851. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.58% to 152.91.
The U.S. data also provided some relief for Britain’s under-fire government bonds, with the 10-year gilt yield building on an earlier fall, last down 6 bps at 4.39%. [GB/]
British bonds are still set for a weekly rise driven by the new Labour government’s tax-and-spend budget igniting concerns over inflation and growth.
Oil extended its recent rally on reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days.
Brent futures gained $1.02, or 1.4%, to $73.83 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $1.05, or 1.5%, at $70.31.
(Additional reporting by Alun John in London; Editing by William Mallard, Sam Holmes, Daren Butler and Mark Heinrich)
