The Nasdaq Composite extended its gains in early afternoon trading on Friday, hitting a 15-year intraday high, propelled by strong results from tech behemoths Google, Amazon and Microsoft. The S&P 500 also hit a record intraday high for the second session in a row. A majority of the ten S&P sectors rose, with the consumer discretionary index gaining 1.4 percent on the back of Amazon. The online retailer hit a lifetime high after its revenue beat estimates.
Google gained 3.6 percent to $577.64 after reporting higher quarterly revenue and profit and Microsoft added 9.4 percent to $47.42 after it topped Wall Street estimates. The S&P hit a high of 2,120.92. The Nasdaq rose to 5,100.371, the highest since touching a record of 5,132.52 in March 2000.
At 1:03 pm EDT (1703 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 30.25 points, or 0.17 percent, at 18,088.94, the S&P 500 was up 6.04 points, or 0.29 percent, at 2,118.97 and the Nasdaq Composite was higher 38.50 points, or 0.76 percent, at 5,094.56. Xerox slumped as much as 14 percent to a 52-week low of $11.32 after it cut its 2015 profit forecast, adding to a growing list of companies that have blamed a strong US currency for weakened results or forecasts.
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