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Tech giants led by Amazon boost Nasdaq

New York - Strong earnings from Amazon and other technology companies lifted the Nasdaq for a second straight session on Friday, also boosting the broader market.

About 15 minutes into trading, the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.7% at 7 166.41.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% to 24 333.76, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3% to 2 674.36.

Analysts were cheered by a torrent of strong technology sector earnings led by Amazon, which surged 6.2% after reporting that its quarterly profit had more than doubled to $1.6bn.

Microsoft jumped 2.2% after its report and Intel rose 2.8%. The strong results followed blowout earnings from Facebook on Wednesday that mollified worries about technology share valuations.

US growth came in at 2.3% in the January-March period, according to government data, down from 2.9% in the final quarter of 2017 but better than analyst expectations.

However, some commentators expressed disappointment at sluggish consumer spending, which rose just 1.1% during the quarter.

Petroleum producers were mixed, with ExxonMobil slumping 3.9% after profits missed analyst expectations and Chevron advancing 0.6% after earnings topped expectations but revenues fell short.

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