Investing.com – U.S. equities continued their surge higher on Friday closing at record levels as bullish U.S. economic growth and stunning earnings from tech heavyweights fuelled risk-on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 23,434.19. The S&P 500 closed 0.81% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6701.26, up 2.20%.
Earnings season continued to take center stage, as investors cheered earnings from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google-parent Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) that beat on both the top and bottom lines lifting the broader indexes to record highs.
Amazon was the standout performer surging 13.2% to close above $1,100 for the first time in its history as the e-commerce giant reported earnings per share of 52 cents, well above Wall Street estimates of 3 cents a share.
On the economic front, the U.S. economy showed no sign of weakness as it grew 3% in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, beating economist expectations of a 2.5% rise.
Analysts were quick to highlight that the upbeat growth data comes after hurricanes Harvey and Irma disrupted output, suggesting that U.S. economic growth is more bullish.
"There were some inventory disruptions because of the hurricane but the economy is doing pretty well," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Funds.
'Bulls and Bears' on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) up 7.4%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) up 6.4% and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up 3.6%
Merck (NYSE:MRK) & Co down 6%, Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) down 4.1% and General Electric (NYSE:GE) down 2.5%, were among the worst Dow performers