U.S. stocks saw an upward trajectory as investors digested the latest earnings reports from major tech companies and evaluated the July jobs report, which revealed fewer job additions than anticipated for the past month.
As of 10:41 ET (14:41 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 193 points or 0.5%, the S&P 500 marked a 0.4% gain, and the NASDAQ Composite rose by 0.5%.
After experiencing substantial gains throughout July, the key Wall Street indices took a breather and closed lower on Thursday, with rising bond yields exerting downward pressure.
Focus on the Jobs Report
The tech sector, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence and hopes for a swifter conclusion to Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, has been at the forefront of market movements. The July monthly official jobs report has spurred these hopes, revealing that the economy added 187,000 jobs, falling short of the expected 200,000 new positions. This suggests a deceleration in job growth to its lowest level since 2020. Concurrently, the unemployment rate edged lower from 3.6% to 3.5%.
Apple and Amazon Earnings
Quarterly earnings releases remain in the spotlight, although the peak reporting period has passed. Approximately 79% of S&P 500 companies have disclosed their results, with around 80% surpassing Wall Street’s expectations, according to FactSet.
Attention is particularly drawn to the earnings results of tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) released after the close on Thursday. Apple reported higher-than-anticipated quarterly income, buoyed by strong services demand. However, revenue declined as consumer spending on the company’s devices, such as iPhones and iPads, tapered.
Amazon’s cloud computing division showcased a slower growth rate than anticipated in the second quarter, sparking optimism that the unit will soon rebound from a recent downturn.
Other Notable Earnings
In addition to Apple and Amazon, Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG), and Dropbox (NASDAQ:DBX) released their earnings results after the close on Thursday, capturing market attention.
Crude Oil Advances on Output Cuts
Oil prices displayed an upward trend, poised for their sixth consecutive week of gains, driven by production cuts by two major global oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia. These production curbs have tightened global oil supplies.
Saudi Arabia recently extended a voluntary oil production cut of one million barrels per day until September’s end. Likewise, Russia announced its intention to decrease oil exports by 300,000 barrels per day in the upcoming month.
These cuts coincided with a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, which is anticipated to make further cuts from the cartel unlikely during the session.
