Wall Street ends a volatile July higher as Amazon jumps 15 percent and Apple falls 7 percent

US equity markets closed higher on Friday 31 July 2026. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent, adding 52.09 points to 7,489.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 276.97 points, or 0.5 percent, to 52,485.03, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 251.68 points, or 1 percent, to 25,373.85. The advance gave the S&P 500 its first winning week in three, although the index still finished the month of July with a small loss.

Amazon led the market with a 15.3 percent leap after its latest quarterly profit more than tripled from a year earlier, helped by accelerating growth in its cloud computing business. Apple moved the other way, falling 7.4 percent despite reporting stronger than expected profit, because its revenue growth forecast for the current quarter fell short of expectations; executives attributed this to a supply crunch in components being absorbed by the artificial intelligence boom. Micron shares reversed an early 6.4 percent gain to finish down 5.9 percent.

The Associated Press reports that the US market swung sharply through July as oil prices rose because of the war with Iran and as investors questioned whether Big Tech's large artificial intelligence investments will translate into profits.