(Updates with latest market prices and developments.)
US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday, supported by Amazon's (AMZN) post-earnings rally, though Apple's (AAPL) shares tumbled after the iPhone maker flagged worsening supply constraints.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 0.9% at 25,342.7 after midday Friday, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 7,485.7. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 52,521.3. Among sectors, consumer discretionary was a standout gainer with its 6% advance, while materials saw the steepest drop.
Amazon' shares jumped 15% intraday, the best performer on the Dow and the S&P 500. Late Thursday, the e-commerce giant reported second-quarter earnings above Wall Street's estimates amid a 37% jump in its Amazon Web Services cloud computing business.
"Amazon's (second-quarter) print was exactly what bulls wanted," RBC Capital Markets said in an emailed client note. "AWS' accelerating 37% growth beat the bogey, the backlog meaningfully accelerated and AWS's margin flow-through would suggest AI may not be the (return on invested capital) depressant it's been made out to be."
Apple was down 9.7%, the worst performer on the Dow and among the biggest declines on the S&P 500. The company missed market estimates for iPad and services revenue in its fiscal third quarter. The tech giant recently increased prices for MacBooks and iPads amid surging memory and storage chip costs.
On the earnings call late Thursday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook flagged supply constraints in the September quarter affecting iPhone, Mac, and iPad.
"We continue to expect high levels of demand. However, with less flexibility in supply chain, we expect the impact from the supply constraints to increase significantly sequentially," he told analysts, according to a FactSet transcript.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 1.4% at $84.74 a barrel intraday, while Brent rose 1.1% to $90.03. Both benchmarks are set to close out July with monthly gains of more than 20%, following two consecutive monthly declines.
Iran hit two tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz under US military escort, CNBC reported, citing state run PressTV.
Iran's army said Friday that it struck strategic US assets and military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, following Washington's attacks against Iran, according to a separate CNBC report that cited state media.
In other corporate news, oil giants Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) reported year-over-year gains in their second-quarter results as supply disruptions in the Middle East boosted oil prices. Exxon shares fell 1.5%, while Chevron rose 1.7%.
Newell Brands (NWL) jumped 14% as its second-quarter earnings unexpectedly rose year over year on the back of tariff refunds, while the consumer products manufacturer returned to revenue growth for the first time in more than four years.
Treasury yields were higher, with the 10-year rate up 7.4 basis points at 4.74%, while the two-year rate jumped six basis points to 4.29%.
The Federal Reserve may need to pursue an aggressive tightening cycle if it doesn't raise interest rates immediately to bring inflation down, the three dissenters at this week's monetary policy meeting said Friday.
The central bank's 12-member Federal Open Market Committee maintained its benchmark rate on Wednesday, staying on hold for the fifth time. However, three regional Fed presidents -- Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas -- preferred to raise rates by a quarter percentage point.
Spot gold declined 1.5% to $4,043.11 per troy ounce, while silver fell 2.3% to $57.65 per ounce.
