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By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A gauge of global stocks declined for a third straight day on Friday as investors weighed the latest round of corporate earnings results, while longer-dated U.S. yields were higher after a gauge of business activity climbed.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 closed slightly higher, with the consumer staples sector, up 0.75%, as Procter & Gamble climbed 3.46% after the maker of products such as toothpaste and laundry detergent beat quarterly estimates and raised its sales outlook.
Amazon shares rallied to close at its highest level in over two months following an upbeat report from a research firm about the online retailers North America business. Amazon shares were last up 3.03%, lifting the consumer discretionary sector by 1.20% as the best performing on the session.
But the materials sector was weak, down 0.91%, as Albermarle plunged 10.00%, suffering its biggest one-day percentage drop in 14 months as the worst performing S&P 500 component, after Chile announced plans to nationalize its lithium industry.
Of the 88 S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly earnings through Friday, 76.1% have topped expectations, according to Refinitiv data, well above the 66% average since 1994 and slightly better than the 74% over the past four quarters.
Earnings are expected to decline 4.7% from the year-ago period, an improvement from the 5.1% decline recorded on April 1.
"The market has been basically in a bit of a holding pattern ahead of big tech earnings next week,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services. "There is a tug of war between good and bad economic data, good and bad earnings data.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 22.34 points, or 0.07%, to 33,808.96, the S&P 500 gained 3.73 points, or 0.09%, to 4,133.52 and the Nasdaq Composite added 12.90 points, or 0.11%, to 12,072.46.
Earnings from megacap names such as Microsoft Corp and Google parent Alphabet Inc are scheduled for next week.
Equities showed little reaction to economic data in the form of S&P Global's flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which said U.S. business activity accelerated to an 11-month high in April.
GRAPHIC: Flash PMI https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-STOCKS/gdvzqbyzopw/flashpmi.png
Economic data in the euro zone also showed the region's economic recovery unexpectedly gained steam this month, with HCOB's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index climbing to an 11-month high.
European shares closed higher, and the STOXX 600 notched its fifth straight week of gains.