Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday after an inflation report that came in mostly as expected and as tech stocks tried to regain some ground after a sharp sell off on Thursday.
At 10:37 ET (14:37 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 102 points or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.8%.
The major indices closed sharply lower Wednesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq shedding 1.8%, on course for weekly losses of about 3% and on pace for its third straight losing week.
The broad-based S&P closed 1.2% lower, off 2% for the week, while the blue chip Dow dropped 0.8%, its sixth negative session in seven, set for a weekly loss of 1%.
September PCE index to guide the Fed
Friday's report on inflation comes in the form of the personal consumption expenditures index, the core reading of which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.
The September personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose 3.4% as expected for the year and 0.4% for the month, while the core PCE, which strips out fuel and energy prices, rose 3.7% for the year and 0.3% for the month. Personal spending surged 0.7%, compared with the expected 0.5%.
The futures market still thinks the Federal Reserve is likely to pause on another interest rate hike when it meets next week despite Thursday's stronger than expected report on gross domestic product for the third quarter, which was fueled by consumer spending.
Amazon’s earnings boost confidence
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) offered up quarterly earnings after the close Thursday that went a long way to securing its position as the world's biggest cloud provider and online retailer.
Amazon Web Services, its cloud business segment, grew revenue 12% to $23.1 billion, while advertising revenue jumped 26% to $12.06 billion from a year earlier. Shares rose more than 7%.
Additionally, chip manufacturer Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) delivered better-than-expected guidance for the current quarter after third-quarter earnings markedly beat analyst estimates amid signs PC demand has bottomed out. Shares jumped 9.9%.
These positive results have boosted overall confidence at the end of what has been a difficult week on Wall Street.
Oil giants report
The earnings focus turns Friday away from the tech sector and towards the big energy companies.
Oil giants Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) missed expectations as results compared unfavorably to last year's record earnings. Chevron reported earnings of $3.05 a share on revenue of $54 billion, while Exxon reported earnings of $2.27 a share on revenue of $90.7 billion. Shares of Chevron fell more than 5%, while Exxon shares were down 1.7%.
Consumer product company Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) beat expectations and guided for full year 2023 earnings above expectations. Shares rose 1.5%.
Oil rebound on U.S. air strikes
Crude prices rose Friday on concerns of a widening of the Israel-Hamas conflict, potentially impacting supply in this oil-rich region.
The crude market rose after the Pentagon confirmed that the U.S. had launched strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria that it claimed were used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and were in response to recent attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
These strikes increased worries of a wider war in the Middle East, potentially impacting crude shipments from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, and other large producers in the Gulf.
However, both benchmarks are still on track to post their first weekly drop in three weeks as the geopolitical premium built on these fears has ebbed as there has been no disruption of oil supply so far.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)