*

Amazon ( AMZN ) surges over 10% on strong cloud revenue growth

*

Fed officials' comments boost dollar, dampen rate cut

expectations

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Global stocks set for seventh straight monthly gain

(Updates to US market open)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Global stocks were poised

for their third straight week of gains and seventh consecutive

monthly advance on Friday as earnings from megacaps Amazon ( AMZN ) and

Apple eased concerns about lofty valuations, while the dollar

climbed after comments from some Federal Reserve officials.

Amazon ( AMZN ) surged more than 10% after reporting cloud

revenue rose at the fastest clip in nearly three years, helping

the company forecast quarterly sales above estimates.

Apple shares, however, eased 0.3% to $270.52 after reaching

an intraday record of $277.32 after it reported quarterly

earnings and forecast holiday quarter iPhone sales and overall

revenue that surpass Wall Street expectations thanks to strong

demand for its iPhone 17 models.

The results cap off a run of earnings this week from several

megacap companies, included in the so-called "Magnificent Seven"

group of stocks, that made clear the massive build of

infrastructure surrounding artificial intelligence shows no

signs of abating.

"It was a doozy of a week of earnings, to say the least, so

I think that the big takeaways are that the AI narrative is

alive and well, there's strong demand for cloud computing and

not enough capacity," said Jake Seltz, portfolio manager for the

Empiric LT Equity team at Allspring in Minneapolis.

"We've seen this for multiple quarters now in a row,

just looking at the capital spending they're committing to

invest in, building out some of that cloud capacity for AI data

centers across the board, we've seen it just go up."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 75.26 points

, or

0.16

%, to

47,597.38;

the S&P 500

rose 38.30 points

, or

0.56

%, to

6,860.64;

and the Nasdaq Composite

rose 254.26 points

, or

1.08

%, to

23,835.40

.

Each of the three indexes was on track for a

third straight weekly gain, while the Nasdaq was set for its

seventh straight monthly climb, its longest streak since January

2018.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 2.56 points, or 0.25%, to 1,007.74, on track for a seventh

straight monthly climb, its longest run since August 2021.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.53% after a

round of mixed quarterly earnings and a benign euro zone

inflation report that reinforced the European Central Bank's

view that price pressures remain contained.

This week has also seen the Bank of Japan hold interest

rates steady despite many economists predicting a hike.

In currencies, the dollar strengthened after comments from

some Fed officials that further dampened expectations the

central bank will cut interest rates at its December meeting

following comments from Chair Jerome Powell in the wake of its

policy announcement that cast doubt on another cut this year.

Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said he dissented

against cutting interest rates this week out of concern that

continued high inflation and signs of price pressures spreading

in the economy could raise doubts about the central bank's

commitment to its 2% inflation target.

In addition, Dallas Federal Reserve President Lorie Logan

said the Fed should not have cut interest rates this week and

should not do so again in December.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies, rose 0.3% to 99.77, with the

euro down 0.29% at $1.1531. The greenback was on pace for

a second straight weekly gain and a monthly climb of 0.8%.

The Japanese yen strengthened 0.08% against the

greenback to 153.98 per dollar. Japanese Finance Minister

Satsuki Katayama said the government has been monitoring foreign

exchange movements with a high sense of urgency after the yen

plunged to around 154 per U.S. dollar.

Economic data showed core inflation in Japan's capital

accelerated in October and stayed above the central bank's 2%

target, keeping market expectations for a rate hike from the

Bank of Japan (BOJ) intact.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell

1.2 basis points to 4.081% while the 2-year note

yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate

expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 2 basis points to

3.594%.

U.S. crude rose 0.28% to $60.74 a barrel and Brent

rose to $65.05 per barrel, up 0.08% on the day.