United States stocks ended higher on Friday, buoyed by a surge in Amazon shares following its upbeat quarterly results, even as cautious comments from Federal Reserve officials dampened optimism over imminent rate cuts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 40.8 points or 0.1%, to end at 47,562.9, the S&P 500 gained 17.8 points or 0.3% to finish at 6,840.2, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 143.8 points or 0.6% to close at 23,725.0.
Amazon shares jumped 9.6% after the e-commerce and cloud giant reported that its Amazon Web Services (AWS) unit grew revenue by 20% in the third quarter, beating Wall Street’s expectations.
Chief Executive Andy Jassy said AWS is “growing at a pace we haven’t seen since 2022”, driven by strong demand in artificial intelligence and core cloud infrastructure.
The upbeat report fuelled gains across the broader technology sector, particularly among AI-linked companies.
Palantir Technologies rose 3%, Oracle added 2.2%, and Tesla advanced 3.7%.
Streaming giant Netflix also contributed to the Nasdaq’s strength, climbing 2.7% after announcing a 10-for-1 stock split.
However, enthusiasm was tempered by cautious remarks from Federal Reserve policymakers, who signalled that the path to lower interest rates remains uncertain.
According to the CME FedWatch Tool, traders priced in a 69.8% probability of another rate cut in December, down from 72.8% on Thursday and 91.7% a week earlier.
Despite the mixed signals, Wall Street ended the week and month on a positive note. The Dow added 0.8%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.7% and the Nasdaq and Dow rose 2.2%.
Investors are now turning their attention to another round of major corporate earnings. Semiconductor makers Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm, as well as data analytics company Palantir Technologies, are due to report next week.
Both Palantir and AMD shares have more than doubled this year, while Qualcomm is up around 18%.
McDonald’s and Uber are also set to release their latest results.
So far in the third-quarter reporting season, 64% of S&P 500 companies have announced results, with 83% delivering earnings per share above analysts’ estimates and 79% exceeding revenue forecasts, according to FactSet Earnings Insight.
On the bond market, yields on the 10-year rates were down 0.4% to 4.081%, and 2-year rates were down 0.8% to 3.58%.
