US open: Stocks jump on tech earnings, strong economic data

Wall Street is heading into the weekend with sharp gains following quarterly updates from several heavyweights in the technology space.

Helping the advance were a jump in crude oil futures as Russia and Saudi Arabia gave their support to a nine-month extension of their supply cut deal and positive economic data.

Thus, at 1617 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 0.11% or 25.01 points at 23,425.87, alongside a gain of 0.69% or 17.59 points to 2,577.99 for the S&P 500 and a 1.81% or 118.39 point advance to 6,675.58 for the Nasdaq Composite.

Despite all of the above, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was four basis points lower to 2.42%, although the US dollar spot index was climbing past technical resistance and at roughly one-month highs.

Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: "The focus for the day has been on the dollar, which has had an incredible run, with the dollar index breaking into a three-month high thanks to euro weakness and the continued outperformance of US economic data.

"Today's impressive 3% GDP reading did little to quell the greenback, surged higher yet again, as traders mulled over the heightened prospect of a December rate hike. With the BoJ, FOMC and BoE all up to the plate next week, the focus shifts back onto the central banks after a week of heavy hitting US corporate earnings figures."

In economic data, a preliminary reading on third quarter gross domestic product from the Department of Commerce revealed only a slight dip in the rate of GDP growth for the three months to September, from 3.2% to 3.1% (consensus: 2.5%), despite the impact from the various hurricanes that hit the Gulf of Mexico during that period.

Elsewhere, the University of Michigan revised its consumer confidence index reading for October from a preliminary print of 101.1 to 100.7 (consensus: 101.0).

Nevertheless, according to Richard Curtin, the survey's chief economist, that still marked just the second time ever that the index had climbed above the 100 point mark.

From a sector standpoint, the best performing areas of the market were: Internet (4.89%), Software (3.37%) and Waste & Disposal (3.27%).

More specifically, Amazon shares were moving higher after it posted a 34% jump in third-quarter sales to $43.7bn, while net income pushed up to $252m from $256m.

Meanwhile, Google parent Alphabet was also on course for an up day after it said late on Thursday that revenue in the three months to the end of September rose 24%, while operating income was up 35%.

Intel was also gaining ground after it reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.01 versus expectations of $0.80 and revenue of $16.2bn compared with expectations of $15.7bn.

Microsoft was bringing up the rear after reporting earnings per share in the third quarter came in at $0.84 compared with estimates of $0.72, while revenue printed at $24.5bn versus forecasts of $23.6bn.

Elsewhere, Huntsman Corp was in focus after it and Swiss-based Clariant mutually agreed to drop their proposed merger plans following pressure from US activist investors.