Wall Street powered higher on Friday supported by strong earnings reports still rolling in and an easing of fears about the Fed hiking rates at its next meeting.

The key S&P 500 index gained 0.6% to a new record high.

The blue-chip Dow rose 0.3% and the tech-centric Nasdaq bettered both, up 1.3%.

When trading closed on Saturday morning (AEST), ASX 200 futures were pointing to a 0.4% gain today.

Over the week, the S&P 500 rallied 3.6% and the Nasdaq 5.2%.

With earnings season entering the final stretch, of the 436 companies in the S&P 500 that have already reported results, 85% have topped analyst expectations, according to LSEG data — well above the 68% average since 1994.

US listed, Australian-based collaboration software maker Atlassian shot up more than 35% for its largest-ever daily percentage gain, while chip company Microchip jumped almost 14%, its best daily performance in more than 15 months, after both forecast quarterly revenue above estimates.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX surged 15.8% a day after the expiry of the first of several share lockup restrictions following its record public offering in June.

Surprisingly weak July jobs figures and downward revisions of earlier releases cooled expectations about the Fed hiking rates at its September meeting.

The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls decreased by 23,000 jobs last month, well below the estimate of economists polled by Reuters that called for an increase of 80,000 jobs.

Previously reported job gains for the prior two months were also revised sharply lower, down about 100,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% last month from 4.2% in June due to workers leaving the labour force.

The weaker jobs market combined with lower oil prices easing inflation concerns saw market expectations for a September rate hike from the Fed drop to about 44%, according to CME FedWatch, down from 55% in the prior session and 67% a week ago.

Not surprisingly, US Treasury bond yields fell. The US dollar fell against all major currencies, including the Aussie dollar, which hit its highest level since early June.

Gold hit a seven-week high, up 2.3% on Friday to $US4,336/ounce. The spot price jumped 7% last week, its biggest weekly gain since January.

Ongoing uncertainty about an end to the US-Iran war saw oil prices on the rise again.

The global benchmark, Brent crude futures gained about $US1/barrel, or 1.3%, to $US83.55/barrel.

However, over the week Brent was 8% lower.

With Reuters