US open: Stocks trade higher following hotter-than-expected NFP report

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks were in the green early on Friday as investors digested a hotter-than-expected non-farm payrolls report.

As of 1500 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.45% at 32,464.97, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.50% to 3,775.59 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.34% firmer at 10,481.12.

The Dow opened 463.72 points higher on Friday, easily reversing losses recorded in the previous session following the Federal Reserve's 75 basis point rate hike.

Friday's primary focus was news that non-farm payrolls continued to grow more quickly than expected in October. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, non-farm payrolls increased by 261,000 during the month of October. Economists had pencilled-in a rise nearer 200,000.

The rate of unemployment, however, rose by two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.7%, ahead of consensus estimates for a print of 3.5%.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "The US labour market is strong and the data was hot. However, the devil is in detail and that is the unemployment rate has ticked higher and this may keep a lid on the dollar rally.

"But for now, one thing is clear that is that the Fed has clear path to continue on its hawkish monetary policy stance and the path of the least resistance for the dollar index is to the upside."

In the corporate space, DraftKings was in the red despite posting a smaller-than-expected Q3 loss, DoorDash shares surged after revealing it had experienced record orders and better-than-expected revenues, and Starbucks reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for its latest quarter as sales hit a fresh record high.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Nike Inc. (NKE) $97.96 8.36%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $49.48 6.43%
American Express Co. (AXP) $145.61 4.52%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $229.09 4.48%
Visa Inc. (V) $200.46 2.93%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $28.14 2.74%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $44.96 2.53%
International Business Machines Corporation (CDI) (IBM) $137.55 2.29%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $219.15 2.29%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $130.00 2.20%