Dow surges more than 800 points on the back of record oil profits

By Paul R. La Monica, CNN Business

Stocks rallied heading into the weekend, despite lousy results from Amazon. Solid earnings from Apple and record profits from oil giants Chevron and Exxon Mobil were enough to counter the weak outlook from the retail and cloud giant.

The Dow, which has Apple and Chevron as two of its 30 members, surged nearly 830 points, or about 2.6%, in afternoon trading Friday. Apple was up nearly 8% while Chevron rose nearly 1%. The S&P 500 rose 2.5% while the tech-laden Nasdaq gained 2.9%.

Stocks finished the week with huge gains. The Dow has soared more than 5% and has posted gains for the past six days. The Dow is now on a four-week winning streak. The S&P 500 is up more than 3% and even the Nasdaq, despite some weak tech earnings, has gained nearly 2%.

All three indexes are also on track to post solid returns for the month of October as well, which wraps up on Monday. Stocks sank in August and September. The Dow has surged more than 14% in October, putting it on track for its best month since January 1976. The Nasdaq has gained 5% while the S&P 500 is up 9%.

Corporate America, for the most part, has reported strong earnings for the third quarter and decent guidance for the holidays this month. Some notable exceptions? Top tech stocks like Amazon as well as Facebook parent Meta. Amazon shares tumbled 7% Friday. Meta was up about 1%, following a nearly 25% plunge Thursday.

But Apple posted record revenue in its most recent quarter, helping boost investor sentiment. Struggling chip company Intel, another Dow component, also reassured Wall Street Thursday with better-than-expected earnings. Intel shares rose 11%.

Investors also were likely reassured by economic data. The government reported Friday morning that personal income and spending both rose more than expected in September…even though a key index of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, rose 6.2% during the past 12 months.

The Federal Reserve looks closely at PCE. The Fed meets next week and is highly likely to raise interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point for the fourth straight time. Even though recession fears are mounting, the Fed can likely take comfort in the fact that consumers are still spending.

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