S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow finish October at record highs, notching gains for the month despite soft Amazon, Apple results Market Snapshot

By Christine Idzelis and Mark DeCambre

U.S. stock benchmarks ended October at all-time peaks, booking weekly and monthly gains, even as investors digested disappointing results from heavyweights Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes each saw their biggest monthly gains since November 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

How did stock-market indexes trade?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average /zigman2/quotes/210598065/realtime DJIA -0.37% rose 89.08 points, or 0.3%, to close at a record 35,819.56.
The S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -0.55% advanced 8.96 points, or 0.2%, to finish at an all-time high of 4,605.38.
The Nasdaq Composite Index /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -0.96% gained 50.27 points, or 0.3%, to end at a new peak of 15,498.39.

For the week, the Dow gained 0.4%, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% weekly and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.7%. For October, the Dow climbed 5.8%, while the S&P 500 jumped 6.9% and the Nasdaq gained 7.3%.

Year-to-date the Dow is up 17.03%., the S&P 500 up 22.61 % and the Nasdaq up 20.25%.

What drove the market?

U.S. stocks saw a strong finish to October.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq had also closed at records on Thursday , lifted by earnings news and hopes for a congressional spending deal as investors shook off a disappointing third-quarter economic growth report, but downbeat results from two big technology companies weighed on Friday’s action.

Reporting late Thursday, Apple /zigman2/quotes/202934861/composite AAPL -1.19% missed rev e nue expectations for the first time since late 2018 , amid slower-than-expected sales of iPhones and wearables. Amazon.com /zigman2/quotes/210331248/composite AMZN -1.44% reported an earnings drop of nearly 50% and provided a disappointing holiday shopping forecast as it struggles with supply-chain and staffing issues. Amazon and Apple shares were both down more than 2% in early afternoon trading Friday.

“Apple is having an impact on the S&P and Nasdaq today,” Katie Nixon, chief investment officer of Northern Trust Wealth Management, said in a phone interview Friday. “It’s a big holding.”

The S&P and Nasdaq were trading down this morning, but edged into positive territory by early afternoon and finished the month and week with gains.

Microsoft MSFT, +2.24% overtook Apple as the most valuable U.S. company after the smartphone giant reported a rare sales miss in the face of supply constraints.

Nixon said that she remains “constructive” on equities as companies are fundamentally in good shape, with a majority beating expectations for third-quarter earnings so far. “The equities market is clearly embracing earnings season despite “notable misses” by Apple and Amazon, she said.

Investors may have underestimated “the flexibility of corporate America” to deal with supply-chain disruptions, Jack Janasiewicz, lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, told MarketWatch Friday. While shares of Apple and Amazon were trading down, he said “they’re actually holding up pretty well.”

Opinion: Apple and Amazon are struggling, so investors may want to look to these tech stocks instead

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