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U.S. stocks closed sharply higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones recording its biggest weekly percentage surge since May
The S&P and the Nasdaq recorded their second consecutive weekly gains, while the blue-chip Dow notched gains for fourth consecutive week.
Apple Inc. AAPL shares jumped around 7.6% on Friday after the company reported better-than-expected Q4 results, while Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN fell 6.8% following downbeat Q3 sales results and weak Q4 sales guidance.
As far as the earnings season is concerned, 263 S&P 500 companies have released quarterly results so far, with around 73% of those exceeding market estimates.
The Nasdaq 100 jumped 3.17% to close at 11,546.21 on Friday, while the S&P 500 rose 2.46%. The Dow Jones gained around 829 points to settle at 32,861.80 in the previous session.
Majority of the sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a higher note, with information technology and communication services stocks recording the biggest surge on Friday. However, consumer discretionary stocks bucked the overall market trend, declining around 0.3% in the previous session..
The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 1.5% to 26.98 points on Friday.
What is CBOE Volatility Index?
The CBOE Volatility Index, popularly known as VIX, is a measure of the equity market’s expectation of volatility based on S&P 500 index call and put options.
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Image and article originally from www.benzinga.com. Read the original article here.