Wall St Extends Recent Rally, Posts Strong Monthly Gains

Content of the article

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks added to their recent rally on Friday after upbeat forecasts from Apple and Amazon.com, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their biggest monthly percentage gains since 2020.

Most sectors of the S&P 500 ended higher. Energy rose the most, with shares of Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil surging after the companies reported record quarterly earnings.

Shares of Apple Inc rose after the company said parts shortages were easing and iPhone demand continued. Amazon.com Inc soared after forecasting higher third-quarter revenue on higher fees from its Prime loyalty subscriptions.

Content of the article

« In today’s market, the numbers from Amazon and Apple support the market (on) the idea that two big companies that make up a big chunk of the S&P so far seem capable of weathering these tougher times, » he said. said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, a family investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.

Stocks also rebounded this week on investor speculation that the Federal Reserve may not need to be as aggressive with interest rate hikes as some had feared.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 58.05 points, or 1.43%, to end at 4,130.48 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 225.81 points, or 1.86%, to 12 388.40. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 323.51 points, or 0.99%, to 32,853.14.

Content of the article

In other income, shares of Intel Corp fell after the company cut its full-year sales and earnings guidance and missed second-quarter estimates.

US corporate results in the second quarter were mostly stronger than expected.

Of the 279 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 77.8% have exceeded expectations. Earnings for S&P 500 companies are now expected to have risen 7.1% in the quarter, from around 5.6% in early July, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Data showed that consumer spending in the United States rose more than expected in June as Americans paid more for goods and services, with monthly inflation rising the most since 2005. Silva and Jonathan Oatis)