Stocks rose for a third straight day as investors looked past inflation and recession fears while digesting a mixed bag of earnings. While all of the major averages are well off their all-time highs, they rallied to finish the week higher and post their best monthly gains since 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 6% in July, while the S&P 500 climbed 9.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, still the laggard of the three this year, jumped about 12.4%. The reversal came as investors’ fears about the aggressive pacing of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes started to wane and the idea that inflation has perhaps peaked began to settle in. Corporate earnings have helped sentiment, too. |
While this week’s batch of corporate results has been mixed, strong quarterly performance and rosy guidance for both Apple and Amazon lifted investor sentiment early in the day. Shares gained 3% and 10%, respectively.
On the flip side, shares of Intel and Roku dropped on Friday, following disappointing quarterly updates from the two companies. Energy stocks drove the market higher, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil posting strong results for the previous quarter. Their shares rose 8.9% and 4.6%, respectively.
Friday’s gains built upon the market rally that began earlier in the week following a policy update from the Federal Reserve. Those updates calmed the nerves of investors that have been worried about the state of the economy. Similarly, corporate earnings have shown things aren’t as bad as investors expected. |
