WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After moving mostly higher early in the session, stocks have seen further upside over the course of the trading day on Friday. With the continued upward move, the Dow has joined the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in positive territory.
Currently, the major averages are hovering near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq is up 225.60 points or 1.5 percent at 15,587.25, the S&P 500 is up 45.12 points or 0.9 percent at 4,951.31 and the Dow is up 80.65 points or 0.2 percent at 38,600.49.
The rally on Wall Street comes amid a positive reaction to earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN).
Shares of Meta are spiking by 20.8 percent after the company reported better than expected fourth quarter results, announced its first-ever quarterly dividend and authorized a $50 billion share buyback.
Amazon has also surged by 8.0 percent after reporting fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Traders are also reacting to a closely watched report from the Labor Department showing much stronger than expected job growth in the month of January.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 353,000 jobs in January compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 180,000 jobs.
The report also showed significantly stronger than previously reported job growth in December, with employment surging by 333,000 jobs during the month compared to the jump of 216,000 jobs that had been reported.
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate in January came in unchanged from the previous month at 3.7 percent. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to inch up to 3.8 percent.
While the data further reduces the chances of an interest cut in March, Larry Tentarelli, Chief Technical Strategist, Blue Chip Daily Trend Report, said he views a strong jobs market as a 'net positive for both the economy and the stock market.'
Sector News
Retail stocks continue to see substantial strength on the day, with the strong jobs data generating optimism about the outlook for consumer spending.
Reflecting the strength in the retail sector, the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index is surging by 3.2 percent to its best intraday level in two years.
Considerable strength also remains visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain being posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index.
Software, transportation and semiconductor stocks have also moved notably higher over the course of the session.
On the other hand, gold stocks have pulled back sharply after rally on Thursday, resulting in a 4.0 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.
The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a steep drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery tumbling $19.40 to $2,051.70 an ounce.
Oil service stocks have also come under pressure on the day, moving significantly lower along with interest rate-sensitive commercial real estate, utilities and telecom stocks. Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in yet another mixed performance on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.4 percent and South Korea's Kospi spiked by 2.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.5 percent.
The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back sharply after moving notably higher over the past several sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 18.4 basis points at 4.047 percent.
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