04:15 PM EDT, 07/31/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes ended higher Friday after Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) Q2 profit soared and the communication-services sector rallied.

* Amazon's ( AMZN ) shares rose 15%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, a day after the e-commerce giant's Q2 results topped Wall Street's estimates on cloud-computing business strength.

* A University of Michigan survey showed respondents expect a 4.2% inflation rate over the next year, down from 4.6% in June, and 3.3% annual inflation over the next five years.

* The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was revised upward to 55.2 for July from 54.4 in the preliminary estimate, compared with expectations for a downward revision to 54.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

* The quarterly US employment cost index rose by 0.9% in Q2, in line with the previous quarter, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. That topped the consensus estimate of a 0.8% gain in a Bloomberg survey.

* September West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose $1.20 to settle at $84.79 per barrel, while September Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen up $1.06 at $90.09.

* Apple ( AAPL ) shares fell 7.4%, the biggest drop on the Nasdaq, a day after the company missed market estimates for iPad and services revenue in fiscal Q3.