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A surge in shares of heavyweight Apple helped push up major Wall Street indexes on Friday, as investors also assessed a mixed US labour market report.
Shares of Apple, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, rose 2.8 per cent as shoppers streamed into the company’s stores to buy its latest iPhone.
US job growth accelerated in October after hurricane-related disruptions in the prior month, the Labour Department said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 26.93 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 23,543.19, the S&P 500 gained 8.28 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 2,588.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 48.96 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 6,763.90.
Apple was easily the biggest individual boost to the three indexes. The stock also helped boost the tech sector, which climbed 0.9 per cent and led all major S&P 500 groups.
American International Group shares sank 4.8 per cent as investors reacted to a surprise $836 million boost to the insurance giant’s reserves. Starbucks shares rose 2.3 per cent.
In other corporate news, Qualcomm shares surged 14.9 per cent after reports that Broadcom is exploring a deal to buy the smartphone chip maker. Broadcom shares rose 6.3 per cent.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.09-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.01-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.