By Benjamin Pimentel
The tech sector advanced early Friday, as shares of Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp. soared as investors greeted better-than-expected financial results reported by the two corporate behemoths.
The session kicked off with shares of Amazon (AMZN) blasting off with an early 20% gain, after the online retailer reported late Thursday a big jump in third-quarter earnings and issued a stronger-than-projected outlook.
Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) also saw its share take off, rallying more than 8%, shortly after posting results that beat Wall Street's expectations, despite an 18% profit drop.
The double play powered the Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) to early gains, as the tech-heavy benchmark advanced 1% to 2,185. The Nasdaq also was poised to end the week in the green.
The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) also was up 1%.
But the tech sector felt the drag of losses in semiconductor shares, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 1.6%.
Leading the chip retreat was Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) shares of which plunged more than 8%. The chip maker reported a drop in quarterly profit and a lackluster outlook, despite issuing results that exceeded Wall Street's estimates.
Other chip stocks, including Texas Instruments (TXN) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA), also gave ground.
But the tech sector got a boost from gains in shares of eBay Inc. (EBAY), Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).