Investing.com-- U.S. stocks rose Friday, lead by the tech sector as investors cheered strong results from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN).

At 09:40 ET (13:40 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 20 points, or 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 30 points, or 0.5%, and the NASDAQ Composite gained 260 points, or 1.1%.

October has been a strong month on Wall Street, with the broad-based S&P 500 climbing 2% over the month. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite has gained over 4% and the 30-stock Dow is up 2.4% month to date.

The DJIA is on pace for its sixth positive month in a row for the first time since 2018.

Amazon, Apple results boost sentiment

Investor concerns, made apparent earlier in the week, over the spending by the tech sector were eased, to a certain extent, by healthy results from two of Wall Street’s biggest names, reviving the week’s earlier optimism.

Apple stock rose after the iPhone maker issued an upbeat outlook, saying it now expects total revenue to rise by 10% to 12% during the holiday quarter. Underpinning these forecasts were expectations that customers would largely opt to upgrade to Apple’s latest version of its flagship device, the iPhone 17.

Speaking to CNBC, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 17 would lead to the best December quarter "in the history of the company."

Amazon shares also surged after the e-commerce giant posted quarterly earnings that topped estimates, buoyed by a rebound in retail margins and solid growth at its cloud arm, Amazon Web Services.

Despite being viewed by some observers as a relative laggard in the AI arms race, top-line growth at its Amazon Web Services cloud division -- which has become largely tied to its ambitions in the nascent technology -- came in at 20%, the fastest increase since 2022.

Elsewhere, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) announced a 10-for-1 stock split, while Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) reported a year-on-year fall in third quarter earnings, as oil prices tumbled due in large part to OPEC+ increasing production.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX), by contrast, posted third-quarter profit which topped estimates, thanks in part to a boost from oil production linked to its acquisition of Hess earlier this year.

Fed’s cautious tone, Trump-Xi talks assessed

Investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting.

While the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points this week, Chair Jerome Powell signaled that another cut in December was “not a foregone conclusion,” tempering hopes for aggressive stimulus.

Elsewhere, U.S. President Donald Trump had an "amazing, outstanding" meeting with China’s Xi on Thursday, but offered little clear insight into how Washington and Beijing will temper their trade ties.

The president said he saw a trade deal with China as "pretty soon," and that there were few stumbling blocks between the two. He did not specify when the deal would be signed, but said that he would visit China in April.

Crude set for losing month

Oil prices fell Friday, on track for a third consecutive losing month as a stronger dollar and likely rising supply from major producers weighed.

Brent futures climbed 0.6% to $64.78 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.7% to $61.02 a barrel.

Both Brent and WTI are set to fall about 3% in October as rising supply is expected to exceed demand growth this year, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and major non-OPEC producers ramping up output to gain market share.

More supply will also cushion the impact of Western sanctions disrupting Russian oil exports to its top buyers China and India.