By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch , Ryan Vlastelica

Amazon slumps after results, offsetting Alphabet gains

U.S. stocks rose on Friday, bolstered by a strong GDP reading, although mixed corporate results limited the day's advance.

A number of high profile companies reported earnings since Thursday's close, and the results provided little in the way of a trend. Among energy companies, Chevron Corp(CVX) rallied while Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) fell, while in the tech sector, a rally by Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, was offset by a sharp decline in Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN).

A preliminary read of third-quarter gross domestic product showed the fastest pace of expansion since mid-2014 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gdp-hits-29-in-biggest-gain-since-mid-2014-2016-10-28), with the economy growing 2.9%, in line with expectations. The report showed acceleration from the growth rate of 1.4% seen in the previous quarter.

The data was seen as doing little to change the view that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates at its December meeting. The U.S. central bank has said it would raise rates when it deems the economy strong enough to withstand such a move.

"We all know this is a 2% economy, with some deviation from that from quarter to quarter. This won't change anything from the point of view of the Fed," said Tom Wirth, executive vice president of the wealth management group for Chemung Canal Trust Co. "Today is mostly driven by earnings, but even there some have been good and some have missed [expectations]."

The Fed is meeting next week, but expectations for a rate increase are low ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Instead, markets are pricing in a tightening at the December meeting, with the CME Group data showing an 83% probability of a hike in December.

In other data released on Friday, consumer sentiment unexpectedly dipped from the prior month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 59 points, or 0.3%, to 18,229. The S&P added 5 points to 2,138, up 0.3% on the day. The Nasdaq Composite Index , which is heavily weighted toward technology companies, rose 8 points, or 0.2%, to 5,224.

With the day's move, the Dow is expected to rise 0.5% on the week. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track for a weekly loss, with the S&P down 0.1% and the Nasdaq off 0.6%.

Read:Get ready to cheer the best five days of the year for stocks (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/get-ready-to-cheer-the-best-five-days-of-the-year-for-stocks-2016-10-27)

Amazon was one of the biggest movers of the day, dropping 4.3% to $782.95 following disappointing earnings reported late Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-posts-smaller-than-expected-profit-increase-2016-10-27-164855144). While the e-commerce giant's revenue came in line with forecasts, earnings were below expectations.

On the upside, Alphabet rose 2% to $833.87 following stronger-than-expected earnings out on Thursday (http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2016/10/27/alphabet-expected-to-report-stronger-earnings-and-sales-live-blog/).

In the energy sector, both Chevron and Exxon reported sharp drops in quarterly earnings, hurt by weak oil prices. However, Chevron rose 4.2% as it nonetheless returned to profitability (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chevron-returns-to-profit-though-revenue-slides-2016-10-28) following three straight quarters of losses. The stock was the biggest percentage gainer among Dow components. Exxon fell 1% after reporting its ninth straight quarter of falling revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/exxon-mobil-profit-and-revenue-slide-again-2016-10-28-84853357).

Read:This market barometer says Trump still has a chance at the White House (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-market-barometer-says-trump-still-has-a-chance-at-the-white-house-2016-10-28)

Among other movers, Baker Hughes Inc.(BHI) rallied 5.7% after The Wall Street Journal reported that General Electric Co.(GE) is in talks to merge its oil-and-gas business with the oil-services company (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/general-electric-said-to-explore-baker-hughes-purchase-2016-10-27).

Hershey Co.(HSY) gained 6% after the chocolate company reported third-quarter earnings that beat estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hershey-third-quarter-earnings-beat-estimates-2016-10-28).

Amgen Inc.(AMGN) sank 11.5% after the biotechnology company late Thursday beat third-quarter earnings expectations and raised its profit outlook, but kept its sales outlook virtually unchanged (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/amgen-beats-profit-expectations-and-raises-its-outlook-2016-10-27).

U.S.-listed shares of Sanofi SA(SAN.FR) (SAN.FR) jumped 5.1% after the French drug giant lifted its profit outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sanofi-raises-profit-outlook-after-upbeat-results-2016-10-28).

See:

Other markets: Asia markets closed mostly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-asian-markets-down-but-nikkei-trades-up-2016-10-27), but with Japan's Nikkei 225 bucking the trend. The Japanese index ended 0.6% higher as the yen weakened after data showed consumer prices dropped in September.

The ICE dollar index fell 0.1% following the GDP release.

Markets in Europe traded firmly lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-drop-as-anheuser-busch-cuts-view-french-data-disappoint-2016-10-28) and heading toward weekly losses.

Oil prices slumped (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-hold-steady-ahead-of-weekend-opec-meeting-2016-10-28) 0.5%, while metals where mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-futures-drift-lower-ahead-of-us-gdp-reading-2016-10-28).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2016 13:01 ET (17:01 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.