Stocks up slightly in first day of trading after huge October

But, while the Institute for Supply Management's national manufacturing index slipped to 50.1, it was ahead of the expected reading of 50.0.

Health-care stocks continued to rally. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg project the economy added 182,000 jobs last month, up from Septembers 142,000, with the unemployment rate slipping to 5 percent from 5.1 percent a month earlier. Health-care stocks gained 1.9 percent, more than twice as much as the broader S&P 500 index.

QUOTE-WORTHY: "Given the rally we've seen in global equities over the past 24 hours, a few USA data tonight that supports low rates for longer in the United States will likely be taken as a positive by the markets", said IG market analyst Angus Nicholson in a commentary.

With 340 companies out of the S&P 500 reporting, third-quarter earnings are down 2.2% on a year earlier. HP Inc jumped 12.1 percent to $13.71, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise was down 2 percent at $14.43.

Biotechnology stocks rallied from the opening bell, with iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (ETF) (IBB) gaining 3.9%.

Elsewhere, Asian markets were dragged lower after data showed a private gauge of China's manufacturing activity remained in contraction for the eighth consecutive month, while European stocks edged higher after a few positive PMI data.

By far the biggest victor in the currency market was the Turkish lira, which soared 5.6 percent to 3-month high of 2.758 lira per dollar after the ruling AK Party swept to an unexpected election victory on Sunday.

Pharma stocks were other gainers, including Dow member Pfizer (+3.7 percent), AbbVie (+6.4 percent) and Biogen (+4.3 percent).

Deals boosted health-care shares.

Visa was among the biggest decliners. The payments processor gave up $2.36, or 3 percent, to close at $75.22 after saying it would buy its sister company Visa Europe in a deal that could be worth more than $23 billion.

In other company news, Hewlett-Packard officially split into two companies over the weekend. Shares of cereal maker Kellogg (K) fell $2.31, or 3.3%, to $68.30 after it reported quarterly sales that fell short of analyst estimates.

Chipotle Mexican Grill was down 2.8 percent at $622.35 after closing all its restaurants in Seattle and Portland due to a reported outbreak of E.coli bacteria. The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 8 per cent, its largest monthly percentage gain in over six years, while the Nikkei rose 9.7 per cent.

U.S government bond prices fell.

Gold fell 0.5 per cent to $US1,134.90 a troy ounce.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose to 2.18 percent from 2.14 percent, while the 30-year advanced to 2.95 percent from 2.93 percent. The euro rose to $1.1017 from $1.1014.