New York
CNN Business
—
Stocks rallied heading into the weekend, despite lousy results from Amazon. Solid earnings from Apple and oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil were enough to counter the weak outlook from the retail and cloud giant.
The Dow, which has Apple
(AAPL) and Chevron
(CVX) as two of its 30 members, was up about 400 points, or about 1.3%, in late morning trading Friday. Apple
(AAPL) was up 5% while Chevron
(CVX) rose nearly 2%. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% while the tech-laden Nasdaq gained 0.6%.
Corporate America, for the most part, has reported strong earnings for the third quarter and decent guidance for the holidays this month. Some notable exceptions? Top tech stocks like Amazon
(AMZN) as well as Facebook parent Meta. Amazon
(AMZN) shares tumbled 10% Friday. Meta was up 2%, following a nearly 25% plunge Thursday.
But Apple posted record revenue in its most recent quarter, helping boost investor sentiment. Struggling chip company Intel
(INTC), another Dow component, also reassured Wall Street Thursday with better-than-expected earnings. Intel
(INTC) shares rose 8%.
Investors also were likely reassured by economic data. The government reported Friday morning that personal income and spending both rose more than expected in September…even though a key index of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, rose 6.2% during the past 12 months.
The Federal Reserve looks closely at PCE. The Fed meets next week and is highly likely to raise interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point for the fourth straight time. Even though recession fears are mounting, the Fed can likely take comfort in the fact that consumers are still spending.
