US Stocks End Wild July                07/31 10:07

   The U.S. stock market is swinging between gains and losses on Friday, as 
Wall Street's wild July remains rocky

   NEW YORK (AP) -- The U.S. stock market is swinging between gains and losses 
on Friday, as Wall Street's wild July remains rocky. Amazon is leaping, but 
Apple is sinking, and rising oil prices are adding to worries about inflation 
already squeezing the bond market.

   The S&P 500 fell 0.4% after erasing an early gain of 0.7%. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average was down 151 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time, 
and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower.

   U.S. stocks initially seemed to be heading for gains as Amazon leaped 13.8% 
after reporting much stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected. Its profit more than tripled from a year earlier, thanks in part to 
an acceleration of growth in its cloud computing business.

   Analysts said that could be a signal Amazon's huge investments in 
artificial-intelligence technology are paying off, and Amazon increased its 
forecast for how much it will spend on investments this year.

   The stock reaction was similar to what Microsoft got a day before, when it 
soared to its best day in nearly 18 years on signals that its AI investments 
may also be yielding higher profits.

   Worries had been rising on Wall Street that companies pouring billions of 
dollars into AI data centers may not get enough profit and productivity to make 
all the investments worth it. That weighed on the broad U.S. stock market, 
causing its sharp swings throughout July, along with worries that prices shot 
too high for the stocks of companies selling the processors and computer memory 
that such "hyperscalers" are scrambling to buy.

   Those chipmakers swung sharply again on Friday. Micron Technology, for 
example, went from an early jump of 6.4% to a loss of 4.8%, and its moves 
helped pull the S&P 500 behind it.

   More firmly on the losing end of Wall Street was Apple, which fell 9.3% 
despite reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than expected. Its 
forecast for growth in the current quarter fell short of expectations, which 
executives pinned on a supply crunch in components that are getting vacuumed up 
in the AI boom.

   Analysts say Apple has almost become an "anti AI" bet among Big Tech stocks 
because of its more limited spending on the technology versus rivals.

   Also pressuring stocks was another swing higher in oil prices as uncertainty 
continues about when crude can begin flowing freely from producers in the 
Middle East to customers worldwide because of the war with Iran.

   The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 1.8% to $88.42 after careening 
between $72 and $102 earlier in July.

   Higher oil prices have pushed up prices for gasoline, with a gallon of 
regular costing an average of nearly $4.11 across the United States, up from 
$3.85 a month ago, according to AAA. More expensive oil puts upward pressure on 
prices for virtually every product that rides on a ship, plane or track before 
it gets to a customer.

   The worries about inflation sent yields in the bond market even higher.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 4.73% from 4.68% late Thursday 
and from just 3.97% before the war with Iran sent oil prices shooting higher. 
That's a notable move for the bond market, and the leap has already sent the 
average long-term U.S. mortgage rate to its highest level in a year.

   Longer-term yields jumped on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's chair, 
Kevin Warsh, promised again to get inflation back down to 2% but did not say 
how he plans to get it there. The Fed voted again to keep interest rates steady 
on Wednesday, even though inflation continues to remain well above 2%.

   Higher interest rates could keep a lid on inflation, but they could also 
slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and other investments. 
President Donald Trump, who nominated Warsh to lead the Fed, has also lobbied 
for lower interest rates instead of higher.

   In stock markets abroad, the swings were even wilder for chip stocks.

   Seoul's Kospi index soared 17.9% for its best day in history. The index is 
dominated by two tech giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which both 
surged at least 26.8% on Friday.

   The Kospi, though, still lost 22% in July despite Friday's historic move. 
That's after it more than doubled in the first six months of the year.