'Earnings season not so bad after all'.

• Author: Costa, Sofia Horta E.
• Position: Business

Byline: Sofia Horta e Costa and Jennifer Kaplan

The Nasdaq Composite Index extended a record Friday and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed at an all-time high as Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. rallied after posting quarterly results.

Google jumped 3.3 percent after saying first-quarter advertising volume jumped. Amazon climbed 14 percent as sales climbed more than analysts projected. Microsoft gained 10 percent after quarterly profit beat estimates.

"It's very positive that this time you actually have good tech earnings to support the Nasdaq record,'' said Manish Singh, head of investments at Crossbridge Capital in London. "We're not seeing the same euphoria we saw 15 years ago. The rally in the tech stocks looks sustainable because these companies...