S&P 500 closes at all-time high

Adam Shell and Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

NEW YORK -- After upbeat earnings reports from Microsoft and Amazon.com and strong orders in September for big-ticket items like dishwashers, stocks rose on the last trading day of the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61.07, or 0.4%, to 15,570.28 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 7.70 points, or 0.4%, to close at a new all-time high of 1,759.77. The Dow and the S&P 500 posted their third straight week of gains.

Technology stocks, which have been among the market's biggest winners this year, were helped by strong earnings. The Nasdaq composite index rose 14.40 points, or 0.4%, to 3,943.36.

Shares of online retailer Amazon.com surged 9% to $363.39 after it reported a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss but posted strong revenue gains. Software giant Microsoft rose 6% to $35.73 after topping profit forecasts by 8 cents.

Blue chip stocks, such as consumer products company Procter & Gamble and package delivery leader UPS, have sported mixed returns despite solid earnings. UPS shares were up 1.2% to $95.61 after topping earnings-per-share estimates by a penny and reaffirming its full-year guidance. P&G saw its shares fall 0.8% to $80.00 after reporting profits that were inline with expectations.

Wall Street also got some good news on the economic front. The Commerce Department said Friday orders for durable goods rose 3.7% in September, above the 0.2% gain in August.

The Commerce Department also reported that U.S. companies in many key sectors of the economy, ranging from autos to pharmaceuticals, boosted the amount of inventory on their shelves, a signal that suggests they believe there is growing demand for their products.

Wholesale inventories rose 0.5% in August vs. July, which was stronger than the consensus forecast of 0.3%, according to Barclays. Growth in July was also revised up to 0.2% from 0.1%. As a result, Barclays upped its third-quarter 2013 GDP estimate by one-tenth to 1.9%, says Peter Newland, an economist at Barclays.

Meanwhile, the University of Michigan's gauge of consumer sentiment fell to 73.2 from 77.5 in September as concerns grew over the government shutdown and political gridlock. The index has fallen for three straight months after reaching a six-year high of 85.1 in July.

The sideways action is not that unusual given the market's strong run since the nation averted a default last week, noted Chris Verrone, an analyst at Strategas Research Partners.

"After a plus 100-point S&P 500 rally in just 10 trading days, the market has spent much of the week consolidating," says Verrone. "We don't think that is such a bad thing."

Asian stock markets were dragged down Friday by doubts about the durability of recoveries in the region's two biggest economies.

Japan released inflation figures that gave a mixed signal about the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic revitalization strategy and Chinese central bank's failed to inject funds into money markets this week to curb frothy credit growth.

Japan's Nikkei 225 shed 2.8% to 14,088.19, Seoul's Kospi fell 0.6% to 2,034.39, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.6% to 22,698.34 and China's Shanghai composite index was down 1.4% at 2,132.96.

European shares moved lower, with benchmarks in Italy and Spain falling around 0.8%. There were more modest declines in the United Kingdom and Germany. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.1% to 6,721.34. The DAX index lost 0.1% to 8,985.74.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was up 89 cents at $98.00 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 25 cents to $97.11 on Thursday.

In bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for mortgages and many other kinds of loans, edged down to 2.51% from 2.52%. The yield has fallen sharply since Sept. 5, when it hit 3%, and is the lowest it's been in three months.

On Thursday, the Dow rose 0.6% to 15,509.21. The S&P 500 added 0.3% to 1,752.07. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.6% to 3,928.96.

Contributing: Associated Press