US open: Stocks move higher on final trading day of July

dl exchange place wall st street pl new york city nyc ny nyse stock exchange dow jones sp nasdaq finance dollar dollars us usa united states of america — Exchange PlaceSharecast photo / Josh White

Wall Street stocks traded higher at the bell on Friday as another busy week for corporate earnings gets set to draw to a close.

As of 1520 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.27% at 32,616.18, while the S&P 500 opened 0.87% firmer at 4,108.04 and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.28% stronger at 12,318.00.

The Dow opened 86.55 points higher on Friday, extending gains recorded in the previous session following the Federal Reserve Bank's decision to raise interest rates by 0.75 basis points and the release of US GDP figures.

Earnings were in focus again on Friday, with Amazon and Apple moving higher at the open after reporting strong quarterly sales growth in cloud computing and iPhones, respectively.

In terms of Friday's earnings slate, both Chevron and Exxon Mobil reported record quarterly profits on the back of surging global oil prices, while Procter & Gamble reported that higher prices had helped the group offset commodity costs but cautioned that full-year profits would fall short of estimates, and Colgate-Palmolive posted earnings that beat estimates despite slipping lower on a year-on-year clip.

On the macro front, the US personal consumption expenditure price index increased 1% month-on-month in June, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysts, the largest increase since September 2005. Prices for goods were up 1.5%, while services were 0.6% higher.

Elsewhere, US households continued to dip into their savings last month in order to finance their purchases amid continued price pressures. According to the Department of Commerce, personal incomes and expenditures rose at a month-on-month pace of 0.6% and 1.1% in June, respectively. That compared to economists' projections for increases of 0.5% and 0.8%. In turn, the personal savings rate declined from 5.5% of disposable income in May to 5.1% in June.

Still on data, abroad measure of workers' compensation increased modestly more quickly than anticipated over the three months to June. According to the Department of Labor, the Employment Cost Index advanced at a quarter-on-quarter clip of 1.3% during the second quarter. Economists had anticipated an advance of 1.1%.

Finally, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment rose to 51.5 in July, up from a record low of 50 in June and in line with preliminary estimates. The current economic conditions subindex was revised higher to 58.1 from a preliminary reading of 57.1, while the expectations gauge was flat at 47.3 - the lowest since 2009.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

Dow Jones - Risers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $159.58 6.11%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $161.91 2.90%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $191.22 1.80%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $157.49 1.13%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $332.47 1.02%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $279.19 1.01%
Visa Inc. (V) $213.40 0.97%
Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) $52.79 0.94%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $45.95 0.88%
JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $115.77 0.84%