04:10 PM EDT, 11/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes ended higher Friday as Amazon.com ( AMZN ) shares rallied after the e-commerce giant's quarterly results topped Wall Street's estimates.

* Amazon ( AMZN ) shares were up 6.2%. Late Thursday, Amazon ( AMZN ) logged Q3 results that surpassed the Street's estimates amid double-digit revenue gains for its cloud-computing platform and advertising business.

* US job creation fell well short of the Street's estimates in October amid an ongoing Boeing ( BA ) strike and potential hurricane-related disruptions, according to government data.

The jobs report "is more relief than alarm" for the Federal Reserve, Jefferies said, adding that the central bank is seen delivering a 25-basis-point interest rate cut next week and in December.

* The US manufacturing sector remained in contraction territory in October amid output weakness ahead of the presidential election, two separate surveys from the Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global ( SPGI ) showed.

"Demand remains subdued, as companies continue to show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to concerns about federal monetary policy direction in light of the fiscal policies proposed by both major (political) parties," said Timothy Fiore, chair of the ISM's manufacturing business survey committee.

* December West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed up $0.16to settle at $69.42 per barrel, while December Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen up $0.19 to $73.00 following a report that Iran is planning further attacks on Israel using its Iraqi militia, reviving worries over a spreading Middle Eastern war.

* Apple ( AAPL ) shares were down 1.3%. Late Thursday, the tech giant posted better-than-expected fiscal Q4 results amid higher iPhone and Mac sales, while it incurred a one-time tax charge of $10.2 billion related to a European court order in September.