Chip Stocks Bounced, but the Dow Did Not Follow

Semiconductor shares rebounded Friday after leading Thursday’s selloff. AMD gained 11.04% and Micron gained 5.12%; the semiconductor ETF SMH rose 3.62%. The gains did not make the broad market uniform: SPY rose 0.32%, while DIA fell 0.40%. AP reported that declining S&P 500 stocks outnumbered advancing ones. The ETF moves in the table are closing-price changes, not the returns of the cash indexes they track.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 165,000 additional nonfarm payroll jobs in October and an unemployment rate of 4.1%. The payroll gain exceeded the average monthly increase of 48,000 over the preceding year. Payrolls and unemployment come from different surveys, and the release does not dictate the Fed’s next decision. It does provide a fresh reading on labor demand on a day when the equity rebound was concentrated in some of the stocks hit hardest the day before.

Vistra rose 10.55% after releasing third-quarter results and issuing its first 2027 outlook. The company projected $7.7 billion to $8.5 billion of ongoing-operations adjusted EBITDA. That is management’s non-GAAP forecast, not reported profit. AMD, by contrast, had published its results on Tuesday. Despite Friday’s gain, AMD was still down 8.13% from Wednesday’s close. The two moves shared a trading session, but only one followed a new earnings release that morning.