Stocks rise on tech earnings; Nasdaq adds to record

NEW YORK - Stocks advanced slightly Friday as investors cheered the quarterly results of three large technology companies: Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

The modest gains helped close out a relatively strong week for U.S. stocks, with the three major indexes rising between 1.4 percent and 3.2 percent in five days. The Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq composite closed at record highs.

Investors now prepare for the biggest week of earnings season. Next week, more than 150 companies in the S&P 500 will report their results, including such market-moving names as Apple, Ford, Visa, Pfizer, and Exxon Mobil.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.45 points, or 0.1 percent, to 18,080.14. The S&P 500 rose 4.76 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,117.69, and the Nasdaq rose 36.02 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,092.09.

The Nasdaq beat its record of 5,048.62, set on March 10, 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, on Thursday.

Microsoft, Amazon, and Google all rose sharply after releasing their quarterly results, which helped lift the Nasdaq more than the Dow or S&P 500. A common theme was signs that the companies were growing sales outside their bread-and-butter businesses.

"I think we are starting to see actual evidence that their strategies are working, especially at Microsoft and Amazon," said Dan Morgan, a portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co. who owns shares of all three companies.

In the energy markets, the price of U.S. crude oil fell 59 cents to close at $57.15 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 43 cents to close at $65.28 a barrel in London.

The dollar fell to 118.93 yen from 119.62 yen. The euro was little changed at $1.0866. U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.91 percent from 1.96 percent late Thursday.

In other energy futures trading on the NYMEX, natural gas was unchanged at $2.531 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In metals trading, gold fell $19.30, to $1,175 an ounce; silver fell 19 cents, to $15.64 an ounce; and copper rose five cents, to $2.75 a pound.