US stocks mostly higher as tech shines ahead of key earnings week

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mostly higher Friday, as tech stocks continued to make gains ahead of the bulk of big tech earnings expected next week. 

At 12:58 ET (16:58 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 index climbed 0.6% and NASDAQ Composite gained 1.3%.  Mega tech earnings due next week 

Tech pushed the broader market, underpinned by a rise in big tech and chip stocks as investors looked to key earnings from the tech sector next week, with five of Wall Street’s so-called “Magnificent Seven” set to report earnings.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL ) cut early-day losses despite data showing iPhone sales in China fell in the third quarter, suffering from severe domestic competition.

Chip stocks also played a role in the broader market move higher as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA ) and Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC ) jumped 2% and 7%, respectively, with the latter boosted quarterly earnings that beat estimates.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL ) will report on Tuesday, followed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT ) on Wednesday. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN ) will then report on Thursday. 

The five firms represent a large chunk of overall market capitalization in Wall Street, with their earnings likely to act as a bellwether for the broader market. Focus will be squarely on whether artificial intelligence proved to be a major earnings driver, especially amid increased capital expenditures on the fast-growing sector. 

Beyond the Magnificent Seven, a barrage of other Wall Street majors are set to report next week, including Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD ), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT ), Visa (NYSE:V ), Ford (NYSE:F ), and Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER ). Capri slumps as Tapestry merger hits regulatory roadblock

Capri Holdings (NYSE:CPRI ) slumped 47% after a U.S. judge blocked a pending merger between the parent company of Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo and handbag maker Tapestry (NYSE:TPR ). Shares of Tapestry soared 15%.

"We assume a 50% probability the FTC’s attempt to block the deal succeeds and the market once again values CPRI based solely on its fundamentals," UBS said in a note.

Health insurer Centene (NYSE:CNC ) advanced nearly 7% after beating estimates for third-quarter profit. Payrolls loom large 

New orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in September, a positive sign ahead of next week's publication of the advance estimate of third-quarter GDP next week.

The end of next week sees the release of the influential monthly jobs report, which will command a lot of attention, especially after last month's release came in much hotter than expected and curbed expectations of more hefty Fed cuts.

Increased odds of a Donald Trump presidency, over Kamala Harris, also saw markets positioning for inflationary U.S. policies in the coming years. 

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com