Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a press conference and speaks on the job market in the U.S.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite opened at record highs on Friday after the October employment report blew past estimates.
Continue Reading Below
The U.S. economy added 128,000 jobs last month, well ahead of the 89,000 that economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6 percent as wages grew at a 3 percent year-over-year clip. The better-than-expected results came despite the pressure from the six-week General Motors strike.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 27213.24 | +167.01 | +0.62% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 3055.1 | +17.54 | +0.58% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 8341.009237 | +48.65 | +0.59% |
The busiest week of earnings season comes to a close on Friday. While 75 percent of U.S. companies that have reported so far topped Wall Street’s expectations, earnings are down for a third straight quarter, according to FactSet. Overall profits are expected to drop about 2.7 percent.
Alibaba shares were higher after reporting a profit of $10.1 billion, or $3.85 a share, easily beating analyst projections. The Chinese e-commerce giant said revenue from its cloud-computing business surged 64 percent from a year ago.
Meanwhile, energy giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron were little changed after reporting mixed results. Exxon said third-quarter earnings fell 49 percent versus a year ago, but still beat on both the top and bottom lines. Chevron reported third-quarter profit and revenue that missed estimates. Both companies said business was hampered by falling oil and gas prices.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BABA | ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD | 178.21 | +1.54 | +0.87% |
| XOM | EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION | 68.77 | +1.20 | +1.77% |
| CVX | CHEVRON CORP. | 115.01 | -1.13 | -0.97% |
Fitbit shares were surging after Google agreed to buy the wearable-fitness technology maker for $2.1 billion, or $7.35 a share in cash. Google-parent Alphabet was little changed.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIT | FITBIT INC | 7.19 | +1.01 | +16.34% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 1,264.79 | +5.99 | +0.48% |
Commodities trading was mixed with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up 1.35 percent at $54.90 a barrel and gold down 0.2 percent at $1,511.60 an ounce.
U.S. Treasurys posted small losses, with the yield on 10-year notes up 1.2 basis points at 1.7 percent.
In European trading, London’s FTSE was gaining 0.46 percent, Germany’s DAX added 0.76 percent and France’s CAC rose 0.72 percent.
In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent, the Shanghai Composite jumped 1 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3 percent.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
