NEW YORK: World stock markets edged higher and the dollar strengthened on Friday, buoyed by a round of US economic data highlighted by the monthly payrolls report.
Wall Street received a boost from a 3.33 percent gain in shares of Apple Inc, a day after the iPhone maker reported quarterly results.
US job growth accelerated in October after hurricane-related disruptions in the prior month, but a sharp retreat in annual wage gains and surge in the number of people dropping out of the work force cast a cloud over the labor market.
“I didn’t think the payrolls number was really all that bad – unemployment went down, the participation rate went down, that was sort of a negative to me and the average hourly earnings was not so hot either,” said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta, Georgia.
“The Fed is still going to raise rates in December, the narrative is pretty much the same.”
Traders see a 90.2 percent chance of a rate hike at the central bank’s next meeting, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Apple gave the biggest boost to each of the major Wall Street indexes after its stronger-than-expected results on Thursday offered a rosy forecast for the holiday shopping season.
Long, snaking lines formed outside the company’s stores in Asia and Europe on Friday as fans flocked to buy the new iPhone X, and the US company, the largest by market capitalization, moved closer to a $1 trillion valuation.
With 406 of S&P 500 companies having reported earnings, 72.4 percent have topped Wall Street expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, in line with the 72 percent average over the past four quarters. The current growth estimate for the quarter stands at 8 percent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30.51 points, or 0.13 percent, to 23,546.77, the S&P 500 gained 6.95 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,586.8 and the Nasdaq Composite added 42.87 points, or 0.64 percent, to 6,757.81.
European shares closed higher on firmer tech stocks and carmakers, though gains were limited as earnings weighed on shares of French bank Societe Generale and Dutch telecoms company Altice.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.27 percent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.02 percent.
The dollar was track for a third week of gains after data on US manufacturing and services reversed a drop following the payrolls report.
Factory goods orders increased 1.4 percent as demand for a range of goods rose, the Commerce Department said. Orders increased by an unrevised 1.2 percent in August.
The dollar index rose 0.34 percent, with the euro down 0.48 percent to $1.16.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 2/32 in price to yield 2.3433 percent, from 2.349 percent late Thursday.
Brent crude prices rose to near their highest in more than two years, with buyers attracted by expectations of an extension to a global pact to cut output that has reduced oversupply.
US crude rose 1.32 percent to $55.26 per barrel and Brent was last at $61.61, up 1.63 percent on the day.
Source: Brecorder.com
