NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, November 6, as technology shares recovered part of a steep sell-off from earlier in the week. The S&P 500 rose 23.13 points, or 0.32%, to 7,376.86. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 264.43 points, or 1.09%, to 24,579.42. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 237.33 points, or 0.46%, to 51,285.73. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained about 1%.
The rebound followed a sharp drop on Thursday, when the Nasdaq plunged 5.5% and entered correction territory, and the S&P 500 lost 4.4%. Chip stocks led the rout, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sinking about 12%. Investors worried that a slowdown in data center construction would hit spending on artificial intelligence. Roughly $3 trillion in market value was wiped out during that session, according to Yahoo Finance.
Some of the concern was tied to Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. Wins by candidates critical of AI and data centers raised fears of new rules for the industry, according to TheStreet. A Citrini Research note also warned of the end of the AI trade, adding to the selling pressure on Thursday. Friday’s gains suggested some investors viewed the slide as overdone.
Jobs report beats forecasts
Investors also weighed a stronger-than-expected October jobs report. U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs last month, far above the 59,000 economists had expected, according to a Dow Jones consensus. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected about 65,000. The unemployment rate came in at 4.1%, below forecasts of 4.2%. The data pointed to a resilient labor market despite high interest rates and recent market turbulence. Treasury yields rose after the report.
The strong data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in December. Bellwether Wealth president Clark Bellin said the firm would still expect a December rate hike after the report. The 10-year Treasury yield traded near 4.86%. Higher rates tend to weigh on growth stocks, though technology shares still rose on Friday as investors bought the dip. Bitcoin hovered near $76,000, and oil prices were little changed, with Brent crude near $98 a barrel.
Airbnb and Cloudflare jump
Among individual stocks, Airbnb jumped after reporting quarterly earnings of $3.16 per share, beating estimates of $2.85, on revenue of $4.87 billion, up 19%. Cloudflare surged after beating third-quarter forecasts and raising its guidance. Chipmaker AMD also rallied. DraftKings tumbled more than 27%, while Axon and Atlassian also posted steep losses during the session. Coherent, AppLovin and Vistra were also among the session’s biggest gainers, while Natera and Microchip Technology fell.
Despite Friday’s rebound, the major indexes ended the week lower. The S&P 500 fell 2.7% for the week, the Nasdaq dropped 3.4% and the Dow lost about 0.9%. The decline marked a turbulent stretch for AI-linked stocks, which had led markets higher for much of the year. In October, stocks had also closed sharply lower as the Nasdaq sank amid similar concerns. Investors will next look to inflation data and fresh earnings for direction.