Amazon Fuels US Stocks Rally as Oil Prices Worry Inflation Hawks

US stocks closed July on a high note after a wild month of trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to finish the week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 276 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 1%. Amazon led the market with a 15.3% surge after reporting strong profits for the latest quarter.

The company's profit more than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to growth in its cloud computing business. This could signal that Amazon's investments in artificial-intelligence technology are paying off, analysts said.

Chip companies selling processors and computer memory swung sharply on Friday. Micron Technology, for example, went from an early jump of 6.4% to a loss of 6.5% before finishing with a fall of 5.9%. Apple dropped 7.4% despite reporting stronger profit than expected, but its forecast for revenue growth in the current quarter fell short.

The gains came despite another rise in oil prices due to uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again from the Middle East. Higher oil prices have pushed the cost of gasoline to an average of nearly $4.11 across the United States.