Stocks rise with Amazon; US yields up ahead of US election

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Global stock indexes climbed on Friday with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares rallying following the company’s stronger-than-expected results, while 10-year Treasury yields hit a four-month high as investors grew wary of buying bonds before the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.

Treasury yields initially tumbled after U.S. jobs data for October 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.

After U.S. stock market closed, S&P Dow Jones Indices said Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) will be added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Nvidia’s shares were up 1.9% in after-hours trading while Intel’s were down 1.4%.

Polls show Republican Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in almost a dead heat with four days to go before U.S. Election Day.

Some strategists say the U.S. fiscal trajectory is expected to worsen under a presidency by either Trump or Harris.

Benchmark 10-year yields were last up 7.7 basis points at 4.361%, the highest since July 5. It follows a 48 basis point increase in October, which was the largest monthly basis point increase since April.

On Wall Street, Amazon.com shares jumped 6.2% after its report late on Thursday. It also indicated that it expected healthy results in the holiday quarter.

The share gain helped offset a 1.2% decline in shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) 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.

The Dow rose 288.73 points, or 0.69%, to end at 42,052.19, the S&P 500 rose 23.35 points, or 0.41%, to 5,728.80. The Nasdaq Composite rose 144.77 points, or 0.80%, to 18,239.92.

For the week, the S&P 500 was down 1.4%.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.85 points, or 0.34%, to 835.15.

Europe’s main stock index notched its biggest one-day gain in five weeks, as banks led an overall market rebound after recent declines. The STOXX 600 index ended 1.09% higher.

The dollar rose against the euro and rebounded against most major currencies after traders digested the U.S. jobs data.

The euro was down 0.40% against the dollar at $1.084. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.36% at 104.24.

The dollar was up 0.60% against the yen to 152.94, ahead of a three-day weekend in Japan. Earlier in the week, the yen got a boost from less-dovish comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda following the central bank’s decision to stand pat.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was up 0.57% on the day at $69,531.

Oil extended its recent rally on reports that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days.

Iran and Israel have engaged in a series of strikes within the broader Middle East warfare set off by fighting in Gaza. Previous Iranian air attacks on Israel on Oct. 1 and in April were mostly repelled, with only minor damage.

Brent futures gained 29 cents to settle at $73.10 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 23 cents to settle at $69.49.

Gold prices edged down, pressured by a stronger U.S. dollar.