U.S. Stocks Regain Ground As Amazon Surges On Upbeat Earnings

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher during trading on Friday, regaining ground following the slump seen over the course of the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has shown a notable rebound, while the Dow is posting a more modest gain.

The major averages have given back ground after an initial surge but are currently all in positive territory. The Nasdaq is up 243.78 points or 1.0 percent at 23,824.92, the S&P 500 is up 36.16 points or 0.5 percent at 6,858.50 and the Dow is up 60.12 points or 0.1 percent at 47,582.24.

The rebound on Wall Street comes amid a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like Amazon (AMZN).

Shares of Amazon are soaring by 10.4 percent after the online retail giant reported better than expected third quarter results amid a sharp increase in cloud computing revenue.

"The e-commerce division may have by far the bigger public profile but it's the cloud services AWS division which is the real engine of Amazon's growth and, it's this which sparked the share price into life," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

He added, "Demand for computing power linked to AI is showing no signs of letting up and that is driving significant growth for AWS, with third-quarter numbers helping to ease fears that this business was losing ground to rival operators."

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) have also surged by 3.6 percent after the streaming giant announced its board of directors has approved a ten-for-one stock split.

On the other hand, iPhone maker Apple (AAPL) has edged lower despite reporting fiscal fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates and providing upbeat guidance for the current quarter.

Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) have also moved to the downside after the energy giant reported third quarter earnings that decreased year-over-year due to lower oil prices.

In U.S. economic news, a reading on Chicago-area business activity increased by more than expected in the month of October but continued to indicate contraction, according to a report released by MNI Indicators.

The report said the Chicago business barometer climbed to 43.8 in October after slipping to 40.6 in September. While economists had expected the index to show a more modest increase to 42.3, a reading below 50 still indicates contraction.

MNI Indicators noted the Chicago business barometer has remained below 50 for twenty-three consecutive months.

Sector News

With Amazon leading the way higher, retail stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside, resulting in a 4.5 percent spike by the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index.

Considerable strength is also visible among computer hardware stocks, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbing by 1.7 percent to a new record intraday high.

Hard drive maker Western Digital (WDC) has led the sector higher, spiking by 8.1 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal first quarter results.

Biotechnology, airline and semiconductor stocks are also seeing significant strength on the day, while pharmaceutical and telecom stocks have moved to the downside.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index surged by 2.1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slid by 0.8 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are seeing modest strength after moving notably lower over the two previous sessions. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 1.4 basis points at 4.079 percent.