Tech Stocks Surge But S&P 500 Faces Second Weekly Decline, Amazon Rallies, Bitcoin Drops Below $70,000: What's Driving Markets Friday?

Wall Street rebounded Friday following Thursday’s selloff, yet midday gains were still insufficient to prevent a second consecutive weekly decline for the S&P 500, currently down 1% for the week.

Concerns over tech earnings eased after Amazon.com Inc. AMZN outperformed expectations, restoring some risk appetite and supporting the sector rebound.

Amazon shares surged over 6%, heading for their best session since February.

The Nasdaq 100, up by 1.1%, outperformed the S&P 500, up 0.8%.

In economic data, the U.S. economy added just 12,000 jobs in October, a steep drop from the 223,000 gain in September and well below the forecast of 113,000, as hurricanes and strikes led to hiring freezes nationwide.

Despite the weak job figures, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, indicating companies chose to retain workers rather than downsize.

The ISM Manufacturing PMI signaled contraction for the seventh consecutive month in October, with the index missing estimates.

Oil prices experienced a volatile session, initially spiking on reports of an imminent retaliatory attack by Iran on Israel before pulling back as those concerns faded. Gold edged down 0.1%.

Bitcoin BTC/USD dipped 0.3%, slipping below the $70,000 mark.

Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day % change
Nasdaq 100	20,123.15	1.2%
Dow Jones	42,161.88	1.0%
S&P 500	5,751.05	0.8%
Russell 2000	2,209.70	0.6%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.9% to $573.75.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 1.1% to $422.09.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rallied 1.2% to $489.80.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM rose 0.8% to $219.26.
• The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY outperformed, rising 2%. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU lagged, down 1.4%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to earnings reports included:

• Apple Inc. AAPL, down 1.6%.
• Intel Corp. INTC, up over 6%.
• Atlassian Corp. TEAM, up 20%.
• Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM, down 0.7%.
• Chevron Corp. CVX, up 2.8%.
• Charter Communications Inc. CHTR, up 13%.
• Dominon Energy Inc. D, down 0.2%.
• Cardinal Health Inc. CAH, up 6%.
• CBOE Global Markets Inc. CBOE, down 2.9%.
• Waters Corp. WAT, up 17%.

Read Next:

• Apple Q4 Results ‘Better-Than-Feared’: Analysts Highlight iPhone 16 Demand, Apple Intelligence Opportunity After ‘Rock Solid Quarter’

Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.