Amazon helped fire Wall Street to a rally on Friday, but a cautious tone from the US Federal Reserve on interest rates kept investor optimism a little cool.
Amazon, the world's biggest e-commerce marketplace, did the heavy lifting as its stock surged nearly 11 per cent after it reported on Friday that its third-quarter results beat estimates across the board.
Apple also beat analyst forecasts on strong iPhone 17 sales and updated its guidance for the key holiday quarter.
Both trillion-dollar companies provided some relief after fellow tech majors Microsoft, Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google owner Alphabet underwhelmed investors with their news.
However, investors remained on guard over the Fed's cautious tone after it cut interest rates again this week.
A divided US central bank slashed interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back on market expectations for another rate cut later this year.
Mr Powell hinted at a discord among Fed officials who are dealing with risks to both sides of its inflation and employment mandates. The Fed's tool to tackle those two risks – interest rates – is not able to handle both at once, leaving the central bank to face what Mr Powell calls a “no risk-free path for policy”.
“Overall, Big Tech wrapped up the earnings season on solid footing despite mixed price reactions – largely a Fed-driven sentiment issue rather than a fundamental one,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average – whose momentum stalled after Mr Powell's comments – inched up 0.1 per cent at the closing bell. The S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.6 per cent. The indices were up 0.8 per cent, 0.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, for the week.
For October, the S&P 500 increased 2.3 per cent and the Dow rose 2.5 per cent to notch six months of gains in a row. The Nasdaq's streak was up at seven after it jumped 4.7 per cent last month.
Year-to-date, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq are up 11.8 per cent, 16.3 per cent and 22.9 per cent, respectively.
In Europe, major markets fell, with Britain's FTSE 100 retreating 0.4 per cent following the Fed's stance and as investors look forward to the Bank of England's rate decision next week.
Paris' CAC 40 declined 0.7 per cent, while Frankfurt's Dax settled 0.7 per cent lower.
Earlier in Asia, stocks were mixed despite trade tensions between the US and China cooling down, after Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping ironed out a detente.
The two leaders met in South Korea on Thursday and came to terms on a number of issues, including reducing tariffs and pausing export controls.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended up 2.1 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite both dropped 1.4 per cent. Seoul's Kospi added 0.5 per cent to hit a record high.
In commodities, oil prices rebounded but still posted a third monthly decline in a row, capping a volatile trading session set off by reports that the US was ready to attack Venezuela. The market is also looking forward to the Opec+ meeting on Sunday, in which the supergroup is expected to agree on another production increase.
Brent added 0.62 per cent to settle at $64.77 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate slipped 0.68 per cent to close at $60.98 a barrel.
Gold, meanwhile, recovered from earlier losses, as the Fed's hawkish tone weighed over investor sentiment.
The precious metal, widely regarded as a safe-haven asset, was nearly flat at $4,002.93 an ounce. Gold hit an all-time peak of $4,381.21 on October 20, but has since cooled down.
