US stocks close higher, post weekly, monthly gains

US stocks ended higher on Friday, marking both weekly and monthly gains, supported by easing trade tensions and strong performance in the technology sector led by Amazon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose slightly by 0.10% (around 40 points) to 47,562, posting weekly and monthly gains of 0.75% and 2.51%, respectively.

The S&P 500 gained 0.26% (17 points) to 6,840, extending its weekly gain to 0.71% and monthly gain to 2.27%.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.61% (143 points) to 23,724, advancing 2.24% for the week and 4.70% for October.

The rally was driven by a 9.58% surge in Amazon’s shares, which closed at $244.22, after the company reported strong earnings from its cloud computing division, reinforcing investor confidence in its heavy investment in artificial intelligence.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.51% to 571 points, ending the week down 0.67%, but posting a slight monthly gain of 0.25%.

Other major European indices also declined. FTSE 100 fell 0.44% to 9,717 points. Germany's DAX dropped 0.67% to 23,958 points. France's CAC 40 declined 0.44% to 8,121 points.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped 2.1% to 52,411 points, surpassing the 52,000 level for the first time ever, while the broader TOPIX index rose 0.95% to 3,331 points, also marking a record high.

As for commodities, Brent crude (December delivery) edged up 0.11% (7 cents) to $65.07 per barrel, after expiring today. WTI crude (December delivery) rose 0.68% (41 cents) to $60.98 per barrel.

Gold (December delivery) fell 0.48% ($19.4) to $3,996.50 per ounce, deepening its weekly loss to 3.40%, though it still gained 3.20% in October.