Hello traders everywhere. The NASDAQ has gained over 2% today spurred by fantastic earnings from the tech sector, which has seen substantial profit taking as of late.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported earnings per share of 52 cents a share, way ahead of Wall Streets estimate of 3 cents a share. Amazon Web Services, the company's cloud business, was its primary driver for growth, with sales leaping 42% on a year-over-year basis.
Amazon also received a boost in sales from its Whole Foods acquisition back in August.
Meanwhile, the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) beat Wall Street earnings expectations by 12 cents a share as its commercial cloud business topped $20 billion in annualized revenue for its fiscal first quarter. The stock was on track to post its biggest one-day gain since October of 2015.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reported an adjusted earnings per share of $9.57, well above the estimate of $8.33 a share, as the company saw a higher-than-expected surge in the volume of clicks on Google ads across the world, especially in Asia.
Tech is best-performing sector on Friday, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (PACF:XLK) popping 2.6% and hitting its highest level since March of 2000.
Information technology has handily outperformed the broader U.S. stock market this year. The sector is up about 30% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained approximately 15%
Key levels to watch next week:
S&P 500 (CME:SP500): 2,541.60
Dow (INDEX:DJI): 22,739.38
NASDAQ (NASDAQ:COMP): 6,517.93
Gold (NYMEX:GC.Z17.E): 1,283.80
Crude Oil (NYMEX:CL.Z17.E): 51.89
U.S. Dollar (NYBOT:DX.Z17.E): 92.59
Every Success,
Jeremy Lutz
INO.com and MarketClub.com
