Blowout Earnings from Apple Drives U.S. Stock Indexes Higher

The major U.S. stock indexes moved higher on Friday, closing at record highs on the back of sold rally in Apple shares. Takeover talk also dominated the trade on Friday with Broadcom announcing its interest in acquiring Qualcomm.

In the cash market, the benchmark S&P 500 Index settled at 2587.84, up 7.99 or +0.31%. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 23539.19, up 22.93 or +0.10% and the tech-based NASDAQ Composite finished the session at 6762.14, up 47.20 or +0.70%.

Apple shares which are allocated to all three major indexes, rose more than 2 percent after the tech giant reported quarterly earnings that soundly beat expectations. The company also announced strong guidance for the current quarter. Apple’s market cap is also closing in on $900 billion.

Qualcomm, meanwhile, rose more than 12 percent at Broadcom considers acquiring the chipmaker.

The Dow and S&P 500 index also posted their eighth straight weekly gain; the NASDAQ recorded its sixth consecutive weekly gain.

Economic News

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs last month. Traders had priced in a gain of 310,000 jobs. The jobs report also showed average hourly earnings remained flat for October. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%.

In other news, the U.S. Trade Balance came out in line with expectations at -43.5 billion. Traders were looking for -43.3 billion, slightly worse than the -42.88 previous read.

The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI beat expectations with a 60.1 read. Final Services PMI, however, came in under the forecast at 55.3. Factory Orders improved by 1.4%, slightly above the 1.3% estimate.

Forex

The U.S. Dollar rose against a basket of currencies on Friday in response to the stronger-than-expected economic reports. The Greenback retreated after the release of the lackluster jobs report, but reversed course in response to the surge in factory orders and the robust services sector data.

The September U.S. Dollar Index posted its third straight weekly increase, adding to its largest weekly percentage gain of the year last week. October was the dollar’s best monthly performance since February.

Gold

Gold prices closed lower on Friday after an early rally failed to gain traction. The market was bolstered early due to the worse-than-expected U.S. jobs numbers in October.

Traders also continued to react to President Trump’s nomination of Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to be the next Fed chair although this news came as no surprise. The trade was also influenced by the release of the House of Representatives Republicans’ proposals to overhaul the U.S. tax code.

Crude Oil

U.S. West Texas Intermediate and international-benchmark Brent crude oil closed sharply higher on Friday, driven by rising global demand and physical prices and continuing expectations that OPEC and the other major producing countries will extend a deal to cut output beyond its March 2018 deadline.

In other news, energy services firm Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by 8 to 729.