[New York Market Briefing] Amazon and Apple strong earnings drove… three major indices rose in unison

Buying sentiment improved on strong results from Apple and Amazon, pushing the three major U.S. stock indexes in New York to close higher.

On the 31st (U.S. Eastern Time) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 47,562.87, up 40.75 points (0.09%) from the previous session.

The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 6,840.20, up 17.86 points (0.26%), and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 23,724.96, up 143.81 points (0.61%).

Strong results from Apple and Amazon improved investor sentiment, particularly for technology stocks.

Leading the market that day was Amazon. After the previous day's close, Amazon announced third-quarter revenue of 180.17 billion dollars and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.95, beating expectations.

The stock surged 9.58% after praise for both its cloud services segment and its capital expenditures (CapEX) strategy.

Andy Jassy, Amazon's chief executive officer (CEO), said, "We are growing at the fastest pace since 2022," and added that "we are experiencing strong demand for AI and core infrastructure."

Apple also exceeded expectations with third-quarter revenue of 12.47 billion dollars and EPS of $1.85. However, disappointing sales in Greater China were highlighted, and after trading flat to slightly up during the session, the stock finished slightly lower at the close.

Brian Mulberry, a portfolio manager at Zac Investment Management, said, "With AI adoption accelerating, $600 billion of capital expenditure consumption is scheduled for next year," adding, "investors will be watching how such spending appears in each company in the form of increased AI revenues."

However, as month-end profit-taking intensified, the indexes pared gains. The Nasdaq rose as much as 1.55% intraday before finishing near flat. A string of hawkish remarks from key Federal Reserve (Fed) officials also dampened hopes for rate cuts and weakened investor sentiment.

By sector, consumer discretionary rose more than 4%, helped by gains in Amazon and Tesla, which are included in the sector.

Netflix's stock rose 2.74% after deciding on a 10-for-1 stock split. Tesla jumped 3.74% as buying in the consumer discretionary sector strengthened.

Meta fell 2.72% that day amid continued concerns over AI infrastructure investments. Meta's market capitalization shrank to 1.4 trillion dollars after two days of declines, leaving it behind Tesla.

Kim Su-young, Hankyung.com reporter swimmingk@hankyung.com