U.S. Stocks Edge Higher at Midday Friday; Major Indexes Poised for Weekly Gains
U.S. stocks edged higher at midday Friday, with the three major indexes on track to post weekly gains. The update came around midnight Aug. 1 Beijing time. Stocks surged after companies reported upbeat earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 160.49 points, or 0.31%, at 52,368.55. The Nasdaq Composite rose 53.01 points, or 0.21%, to 25,175.19, while the S&P 500 gained 13.38 points, or 0.18%, to 7,451.01. Amazon shares jumped 14.6% after the company reported second-quarter revenue above expectations. Strong performance in its cloud-computing business supported the results and bolstered investor confidence in artificial-intelligence spending. Apple, by contrast, fell more than 9% Friday. Revenue in the company's third fiscal quarter exceeded expectations, helped by a 22% increase in iPhone sales, but a shortfall in services revenue weighed on the stock. Meta, which plunged nearly 8% Thursday, was up less than 1% in Friday's early trading. The previous rally stemmed from a strong rebound Thursday led by an unnamed software giant. Its shares jumped 16% after it reported better-than-expected growth in Azure cloud services. The results triggered a broad rally in AI-related chip stocks, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose more than 8%. The rebound followed a brutal market selloff Wednesday, when an unnamed index plunged more than 1,100 points, its biggest one-day decline since April 2025. Selling accelerated late in the session after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, raising concerns that policymakers were falling behind in the fight against inflation. The concerns spread to the Treasury market. The yield on the 30-year Treasury note rose 6 basis points Wednesday to above 5.2%, hovering near its highest level since 2007. Richard Bernstein, head of global macro and customized investments at Janus Henderson Investors, said: “Investors are recalibrating their expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts, reducing the excess liquidity that had previously fueled speculative and momentum-driven markets. Market leadership is broadening beyond the ‘Magnificent Seven’ as investors increasingly favor stocks with improving fundamentals over hype-driven momentum stocks.” Despite the week's sharp volatility, the major indexes remained on track to finish higher. Before Friday's open, the Dow was up about 0.5% for the week, the S&P 500 was up about 0.4%, and the unnamed composite index was up about 0.6%. In Asia, South Korea's KOSPI surged more than 15% Friday, although it was down 22.19% for the month. Chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rallied sharply. Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped more than 3%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.27%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.11%, and the CSI 300 rose 1.24%. European markets also broadly moved higher Friday. The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.8% in early trading, while France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX each gained about 0.9%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Italy's FTSE MIB also rose.
Stocks surged after companies reported upbeat earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 160.49 points, or 0.31%, at 52,368.55. The Nasdaq Composite rose 53.01 points, or 0.21%, to 25,175.19, while the S&P 500 gained 13.38 points, or 0.18%, to 7,451.01.
Amazon shares jumped 14.6% after the company reported second-quarter revenue above expectations. Strong performance in its cloud-computing business supported the results and bolstered investor confidence in artificial-intelligence spending.
Apple, by contrast, fell more than 9% Friday. Revenue in the company's third fiscal quarter exceeded expectations, helped by a 22% increase in iPhone sales, but a shortfall in services revenue weighed on the stock.
Meta, which plunged nearly 8% Thursday, was up less than 1% in Friday's early trading.
The previous rally stemmed from a strong rebound Thursday led by an unnamed software giant. Its shares jumped 16% after it reported better-than-expected growth in Azure cloud services. The results triggered a broad rally in AI-related chip stocks, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose more than 8%.
The rebound followed a brutal market selloff Wednesday, when an unnamed index plunged more than 1,100 points, its biggest one-day decline since April 2025. Selling accelerated late in the session after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, raising concerns that policymakers were falling behind in the fight against inflation.
The concerns spread to the Treasury market. The yield on the 30-year Treasury note rose 6 basis points Wednesday to above 5.2%, hovering near its highest level since 2007.
Richard Bernstein, head of global macro and customized investments at Janus Henderson Investors, said: “Investors are recalibrating their expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts, reducing the excess liquidity that had previously fueled speculative and momentum-driven markets. Market leadership is broadening beyond the ‘Magnificent Seven’ as investors increasingly favor stocks with improving fundamentals over hype-driven momentum stocks.”
Despite the week's sharp volatility, the major indexes remained on track to finish higher. Before Friday's open, the Dow was up about 0.5% for the week, the S&P 500 was up about 0.4%, and the unnamed composite index was up about 0.6%.
In Asia, South Korea's KOSPI surged more than 15% Friday, although it was down 22.19% for the month. Chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rallied sharply. Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped more than 3%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.27%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.11%, and the CSI 300 rose 1.24%.
European markets also broadly moved higher Friday. The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.8% in early trading, while France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX each gained about 0.9%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Italy's FTSE MIB also rose.