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US STOCKS-Wall St struggles for direction as rate uncertainty offsets Amazon jump
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US STOCKS-Wall St struggles for direction as rate uncertainty offsets Amazon jump
Jul 31, 2026 9:38 AM

* Indexes: Dow up 0.19%, S&P 500 off 0.02%, Nasdaq dips

0.06%

* Amazon ( AMZN ) jumps as AWS growth soothes fears over rising AI

spending

* Apple ( AAPL ) slides as supply snags cloud outlook

* Yields jump as three Fed dissenters say rate hike is

needed

(Updates to midday trading)

By Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur

July 31 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes traded

between small gains and losses on Friday, as uncertainty over

the path for interest rates and a slide in Apple's ( AAPL ) shares offset

a 13.7% jump in Amazon ( AMZN ).

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) reported its biggest revenue growth in

over four years for the previous quarter, joining similar

reports from Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet earlier

this month, prompting investors to look past the companies' big

spending plans that rattled markets through this month.

Apple ( AAPL ), on the other hand, slid 9.2% after warning

that supply constraints would hurt growth, adding to worries

about the hit from iPhone price hikes.

This week was what some analysts called 'make-or-break' for

the tech sector that had been beaten down as traders took some

profits through July following a strong end to the second

quarter, as they awaited signs that investments made by AI

leaders at the expense of free cash flow were paying off.

"The whole argument here was, are these investments going to

be accretive and when will that show? And it seems like it's

beginning to show immediately," said Chris Ballard, managing

director at Check Capital Management, while speaking about

Alphabet and Amazon ( AMZN ).

"We're very happy to see that and it justifies further

investment into what they're doing."

Shares of Microsoft ( MSFT ) were up 1.5% after logging theirbiggest

one-day gain on record for a company in the previous session,

while Alphabet jumped 5% and Meta gained 1.5%. Among

chip stocks, Nvidia ( NVDA ) climbed 0.8% and Monolithic Power

Systems ( MPWR ) gained 11.1% after forecasting third-quarter

revenue above estimates.

At 11:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 99.24 points, or 0.19%, to 52,306.20, the S&P 500

lost 1.49 points, or 0.02%, to 7,436.14 and the Nasdaq Composite

lost 15.65 points, or 0.06%, to 25,106.53.

The S&P 500's consumer discretionary sector led

the gains, up 5%, helped by Amazon's ( AMZN ) surge, while tech

lost over 1.6%.

TOUGH MONTH FOR STOCKS

All three of Wall Street's main indexes are on track for

weekly gains, aided by the strong rebound late this week. But

the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were on track for monthly losses,

reflecting the sharp selloff AI-linked stocks witnessed through

July.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index was flat on

Friday and is down 20% in July, which would mark its biggest

monthly fall since 2008. Investors instead took notice of other

sectors, as the S&P 500 equally weighted index is on

track for its fourth straight month of gains.

"This momentum crash was tremendous and the positioning has

been rinsed," said Laurent Clavel, global head of multi-asset at

AXA Investment Managers, BNP Paribas Asset Management.

"Going into August, if anything, we are going back into it

slowly. We're buying this weakness and we're re-buying this AI

narrative," Clavel said.

The week also brought uncertainty in terms of interest rates

after the Federal Reserve left its benchmark rate on hold.

Chairman Kevin Warsh's commentary offered little on the outlook

for interest rates; however, at least three officials voiced the

need to hike interest rates on Friday.

The yield on the 2-year Treasury note, a

reflection of short-term interest rates, spiked 7 basis points

to 4.29%, while investors priced in a 67% chance that rates

could rise by at least 25 basis points in September, CME's

FedWatch tool showed.

Domain registrar GoDaddy ( GDDY ) lost 20% after narrowing

its annual revenue forecast.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.58-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted four new 52-week highs and three new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 35 new highs and 86

new lows.

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