NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – Surprisingly solid quarterly reports and outlooks from the two heavyweights Apple and Amazon have brought relief to the US stock exchanges before the weekend. The Dow Jones Industrial (Dow Jones 30 Industrial) rose 0.73 percent on Friday to 32,767.10 points, the highest since early June.
On a weekly basis, the Dow gained 2.7 percent. The index would end the historically rather weak month of July with a premium of 6.5 percent. That would be the strongest July in twelve years. Share prices were recently supported by the expectation that the US Federal Reserve might be more cautious when raising interest rates.
The market-wide S&P 500 gained 1.20 percent on Friday to 4121.02 points. The technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 rose even more strongly by 1.46 percent to 12,903.74 points. There was also positive news about the economy, with US consumer sentiment brightening somewhat more than expected in July.
Amazon shares went up 12 percent. The world’s largest online retailer significantly increased sales in the second quarter despite high inflation and fears of a recession. Analyst Lee Horowitz from Deutsche Bank called Amazon “the port in the economic storm”.
Apple has so far defied economic concerns and logistics bottlenecks with its iPhone business. In the past quarter, the iPhone was able to grow in a smartphone market that had shrunk overall. The shares gained 3.5 percent.
Totally different Intel. After a slump in sales and red figures in the past quarter, the chip giant has conceded its annual targets. Expert Stacy Rasgon from the investment house Bernstein called the profitability “terrifying” and the new annual targets “nasty”. At minus 8.1 percent, the shares found themselves lagging behind at the bottom of the Dow.
Statements from the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (ProcterGamble) were also not well received, the share was the second-biggest loser in the index at minus 5.4 percent. The group expects headwinds from high inflation this year.
A record profit of the oil company Exxon Mobil (ExxonMobil) was applauded by investors. Soaring oil and gas prices gave the company a $17.9 billion profit in the second quarter. The course rose by 4.4 percent. The figures from the counterparty Chevron, which also increased the multi-billion dollar share buyback, were even better. Chevron increased by 8.5 percent./bek/he