Update: Wall Street Gains Amid Amazon Rally as July Ends Mostly Lower
(Updates with market moves at the end of the day, along with weekly and monthly index changes.)US equity indexes rose Friday as Amazon (AMZN) surged 15% post earnings, while Wall Street closed out July mostly lower.The Nasdaq Composite rose 1% to 25,373.85, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% to 7,489.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% to settle at 52,485.03. Among sectors, consumer discretionary was a standout gainer with its 6.1% advance, while materials saw the steepest drop of 2.7%.For the month of July, the Nasdaq shed 3.2% and the S&P 500 edged 0.1% lower, the second consecutive month of losses for both measures. The Dow added 0.3% to log its fourth straight monthly gain.All three indexes posted weekly gains, with the Nasdaq up 1.6%. The S&P 500 and the Dow climbed 1.1% and 1%, respectively.Amazon was 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 (AAPL) slumped 7.1%, 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.Apple supply chain-related concerns could persist into fiscal 2027, UBS Securities said, after Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh flagged a worsening supply backdrop.West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 1.1% at $84.52 a barrel in Friday late-afternoon trade, while Brent rose 1.2% to $90.12. 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%, while Chevron rose 2.4%.Newell Brands (NWL) jumped 9% 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 5.5 basis points at 4.72%, while the two-year rate rose 3.3 basis points to 4.26%.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 1.2% to $4,052.33 per troy ounce, while silver fell 1.6% to $58.08 per ounce.
