The Nasdaq composite and Nasdaq 100 held solid gains on the stock market today, overcoming an early downdraft, after the January jobs report came in much stronger than expected.
The two indexes were each up 1.5% in afternoon Friday as sentiment was positive in the technology sector. Techs were helped by a 21% gain for Meta Platforms and an 8% surge for Amazon.com. But Apple fell below its 200-day line early in the session, though it fought back to nearly break-even, after the company reported earnings and issued a weak revenue outlook.
Datadog, MongoDB, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices were other top gainers in the Nasdaq 100. MDB has been lagging in the database software group, but it's near the top of a short consolidation with a 443.84 entry.
Stock market leadership was narrow as decliners beat advancers on the Nasdaq by about 2-to-1. The ratio was more than 3-to-1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange.
The economy created 353,000 jobs in January, well above estimates for 170,000, while job growth in December was revised sharply higher. That fueled some serious bond selling, which lifted the 10-year Treasury yield by 17 basis points to just under 4.03%.
Earlier in the week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that the first rate cut probably wouldn't happen at the March meeting. After the strong jobs data, traders aren't so sure that the first rate cut will come at the May meeting, either.
Stock Market Today: Meta Soars
Meta Platforms soared well past an all-time high after the company reported its third straight quarter of accelerating earnings and revenue growth along with its first-ever dividend. One of the stocks on Investor's Business Daily's Leaderboard, Meta will pay a dividend of 50 cents a share, payable on March 26 to shareholders of record Feb. 22. Annualized, that gives Meta stock a yield of less than 1%.
Digital ad sales jumped 24% to $38.7 billion, while revenue at the company's metaverse-focused Reality Labs topped $1 billion for the first time.
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Amazon also rallied sharply in the stock market today after the company reported adjusted profit of $1 a share compared with 3 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue at Amazon Web Services increased 13% to $24.2 billion, making up 14% of total revenue.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged higher by 0.2%, though it ventured into the red earlier due to an earnings sell-off for Apple stock. Earnings and revenue topped expectations, helped by healthy iPhone 15 sales and services growth. The latter contributed revenue of $23.1 billion, up 11%. IPhone revenue increased 6% to $69.7 billion, making up 58% of total revenue in the quarter.
Apple briefly fell below its 200-day line but climbed off lows, paring a 4.3% intraday to less than 1%.
Chevron Leads Dow Jones
Chevron was a top gainer on the Dow Jones index, up nearly 3% thanks to a strong fourth-quarter earnings report. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas intermediate crude oil futures were down 1.6% to around $72.65 a barrel.
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The S&P 500 added 0.9%, helped by a bullish gain for Arista Networks, which jumped around 4%. Meta Platforms is one of ANET's largest customers.
Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 down around 1%.
Growth Stocks On The Move
Meanwhile, several top-rated growth stocks rallied sharply in the MarketSmith Growth 250 on the stock market today. Shopify, a member of the Leaderboard model portfolio, soared more than 6% after a volatile session Thursday. SHOP stock is in an alternate buy zone as it bounces off its 10-week line.
Fast-growing footwear giant Deckers Outdoor soared more than 15% after the company reported a 44% increase in quarterly profit. Revenue increased 16% to $1.56 billion. Deckers, known for its Ugg and Hoka shoe brands, also bumped up its fiscal 2024 earnings and revenue guidance.
But the news wasn't so good at Skechers, which gapped down more than 8%, falling sharply below its 50-day line after the shoemaker's earnings showed it missed revenue forecasts.
In the enterprise software group, JFrog outperformed, rising nearly 4%. FROG is near the top of a flat base with a 35.35 entry.
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