WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Stocks have moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, regaining ground following the sell-off seen in the previous session. With the strong upward move, the Dow is bouncing off its lowest closing level in well over a month.
Currently, the major averages are just off their highs of the session. The Dow is up 466.60 points or 1.1 percent at 42,230.06, the Nasdaq is up 225.35 points or 1.3 percent at 18,320.50 and the S&P 500 is up 55.14 points or 1.0 percent at 5,760.59.
The rebound on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like Amazon (AMZN) and Intel (INTC).
Shares of Amazon are soaring by 7.2 percent after the online retail giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Semiconductor giant Intel is also surging by 7.5 percent after reporting better than expected third quarter results and providing strong guidance.
On the other hand, shares of Apple (AAPL) have moved to the downside even though the tech giant reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results.
Traders are also digesting the Labor Department's closely watched report, which showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of October.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment crept up by 12,000 jobs in October after jumping by a downwardly revised 223,000 jobs in September.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 113,000 jobs compared to the surge of 254,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent in October, unchanged from September and in line with economist estimates.
While the data has raised some concerns about the strength of the economy, the report has also led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
Sector News
Retail stocks have moved sharply higher on the heels of the upbeat results from Amazon, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index up by 3.3 percent to a record intraday high.
Substantial strength is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.
Biotechnology stocks have also shown a significant move to the upside, resulting in a 1.8 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.
Software, computer hardware and semiconductor stocks are also seeing considerable strength, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Other Markets
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dove by 2.6 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2 percent, although Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index bucked the downtrend and jumped by 0.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.9 percent.
In the bond market, treasuries have pulled back sharply after initially rallying in reaction to the monthly jobs data. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.7 basis points at 4.331 percent.
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