US stocks close higher in whipsaw session as Amazon gives big boost to tech shares
- The Nasdaq Composite turned higher Friday in another volatile session on Wall Street.
- Tech stocks climbed as Amazon posted strong earnings results.
US stocks finished Friday's volatile session mostly higher as investors zeroed in on strong earnings from Amazon and set aside concerns that January's blowout jobs report will anchor the Federal Reserve's path toward aggressive rate hikes.
The Nasdaq Composite led gains among major indexes, while the S&P 500 also reversed course and rose to solidify daily and weekly advances. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed slightly lower
Amazon was a standout, soaring after the e-commerce giant said it will raise the price of its Prime membership and posted per-share earnings of $27.75, compared with a consensus of $3.77.
Here's where US indexes stood at 4:00 p.m. on Friday:
- S&P 500: 4,500.62, up 0.52%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,089.81, down 0.06%
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,098.01, up 1.58%
Stocks had fallen earlier Friday after the Labor Department said the US economy added 467,000 jobs last month, outstripping the median forecast for 150,000 new nonfarm payrolls from economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
"A better-than-expected jobs report only fuels the Fed's fire to raise rates, and act quickly. While they've already signaled that the labor market is in a good place, there was potential for Omicron to derail that progress—and that just doesn't seem to be the case," said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E-Trade, in a note.
Volatility stems from the market "typically unwelcoming of news that could accelerate the pace of action from the Fed," he said.
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Oil prices turned mixed. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.2% to $92.23 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, flipped lower, down a penny at $93.26.
Gold reversed losses to rise 0.2% to $1,807.50 per ounce. The 10-year yield climbed 9 basis points to 1.929%.
Bitcoin soared 9.5% to $40,616.18.