Nasdaq Tech Index Jumps 1% on Amazon's AI Surge
The Nasdaq Composite index closed at 25,373.85 on Friday, July 31st, after advancing 1% or 251.68 points from the previous day.
This growth was largely driven by a strong rally in Amazon shares, which surged after the company's second-quarter results showed accelerating revenue growth in its cloud computing business and reaffirmed its aggressive spending plans for AI infrastructure through the end of 2026.
Amazon's share price increase added significant weight to the Nasdaq's advance, given the company's substantial index weighting. This helped extend a broader recovery in AI-adjacent names that had been battered earlier in the month by a selloff in chip stocks triggered by reports of a Chinese breakthrough in deep-ultraviolet lithography technology.
The tech-heavy index's gain on Friday provided a firm finish to what was an exceptionally volatile month for growth and semiconductor stocks, which declined roughly 3% overall in July.