Markets get boost from Wednesday earnings; Amazon, Apple miss expectations

Oct. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. markets rose on Thursday after another day of strong earnings reports from major companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 239.79 points, or 0.68%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.98% and the Nasdaq Composite closed the day up 1.39%.

Ford stock rose 8.63% after the automotive company posted earnings that far exceeded expectations and raised its guidance for full-year earnings for 2021.

Shares of pharmaceutical company Merck gained 6.13% and Caterpillar increased 4.07%, while Mastercard dropped 0.8% after all three companies posted strong earnings.

Amazon stock rose 1.59% during regular trading but tanked 5.18% as the company fell far short of analysts expectations posting earnings of $6.12 per share compared to $8.92 expected and revenue of $110.81 billion compared to forecasts of $111.6 billion.

Its earnings fell from $12.37 in 2020, the largest year-over-year decline since the second quarter of 2017, while revenue increased 15% from $96.15 billion last year.

Apple also fell short of analysts' expectations on Thursday posting $83.36 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 29% year over year, but short of predictions of $84.85 billion. Earnings per share, however, met analysts' forecast at $1.24.

Sales of the iPhone rose 47% year over year but the $38.87 billion brought in was short of analysts' expectations of $41.51 billion.

Shares of Apple had risen 2.5% in regular trading but fell more than 3% after the bell following the news.