Wall Street ended the session on a high, with all major indices recording gains, despite data from the employment report, which revealed some fragility in the US labor market, before a decisive week that will be marked by the US presidential elections and the Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 5,728.80 points in the first session of November, interrupting two sessions of declines, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.69% to 42,052.19 points and the benchmark index for the technology sector, the Nasdaq, advanced 0.80% to 18,239.92 points.
Employment data, known as “payrolls”, revealed that just 12,000 new jobs were created, a sharp drop from the previous month and the 113 thousand predicted by analysts, although they were conditioned by the hurricanes and strikes in the USA.
The number reached 2020 lows and will be an important element of analysis for next week’s US Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting. The CME’s FedWatch tool points to a near 100% probability of a 25 basis point cut.
“We are in the middle of a frenetic phase, with economic data, results, the Fed and the US elections”, points out Bret Kenwell from eToro, cited by Bloomberg. “There is some volatility surrounding these events, but so far nothing has changed in the big picture. Until that changes, the long-term drivers of the bull market remain intact.”
Amazon was in the spotlight during the session, accelerating 6.19% to $197.93, after presenting the quarterly accounts after the close of the session on Wall Street on Thursday, on another day of releasing results from “Big Tech”.
The e-commerce giant reported profits of US$15.3 billion and an 11% increase in revenue in the third quarter, exceeding analysts’ forecasts. However, it was robust sales forecasts for the current quarter, which encompasses the strong Black Friday and Christmas sales season, that boosted Jeff Bezos’ company.
Apple, which also presented numbers on Thursday, fell 1.33%, after sales were in line with expectations, but recorded a sharp drop in profits due to the EU’s decision to change the way company taxation in Irelandwhich cost the iPhone company around 10 billion dollars.
Investors’ focus at the beginning of next week will be entirely concentrated on the US presidential elections, scheduled for Tuesday, in which some volatility is expected in the markets due to the proximity of candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the electoral race.
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
