Investing.com — The closed higher on Friday, after hitting an intraday high as technology stocks continued to make gains as investors piled into high-flying tech stocks ahead of a key week of earnings next week.

At 4:00 a.m. ET (8:00 p.m. GMT), it rose 0.6% to close at 18,519.36, just below its recent high of 18,647.45. The tech-heavy index had hit an intraday high earlier in the session at 18,690.01. Down 260 points, or 0.6%, the index ended unchanged.

Mega tech earnings expected next week

Tech led the broader market, underpinned by a surge in major technology and chip stocks as investors looked to key earnings from the tech sector next week, with five of Wall Street’s so-called “Magnificent Seven” set to report earnings.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:

Chip stocks also played a role in the broader market moving higher as NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: ) and Western Digital (NASDAQ: ) closed nearly 1% and 6% higher, respectively, with the latter boosted by quarterly earnings that beat estimates.

Alphabet (NASDAQ: ) will report on Tuesday, followed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: ) on Wednesday. Apple (NASDAQ: ) and Amazon (NASDAQ: ) will then report on Thursday.

The five companies represent a large portion of the total market capitalization on Wall Street, with their earnings likely to act as a signal for the broader market. The focus will be squarely on whether artificial intelligence proves to be a key performance driver, particularly amid increased investment in the fast-growing sector.

Beyond the Magnificent Seven, a flurry of other Wall Street majors will report next week, including Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: ), Caterpillar (NYSE: ), Visa (NYSE: ), Ford (NYSE: ) and Uber Technologies (NYSE: ).

Capri sinks as Tapestry merger hits regulatory roadblock

Capri Holdings (NYSE: ) fell 49% after a U.S. judge blocked a pending merger between the parent company of Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo and handbag maker Tapestry (NYSE: ). Tapestry’s shares rose 15%.

“We assume a 50% probability that the FTC’s attempt to block the deal will succeed and the market will once again value CPRI based on its fundamentals alone,” UBS said in a note.

Health insurer Centene (NYSE: ) rose 5% after beating estimates for third-quarter profit.

Crypto-related stocks follow lower on probe

Crypto-related stocks included Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: ), MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ: ) and Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: ) fell sharply along with Bitcoin () after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Manhattan U.S. law firm is investigating whether Tether violated anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.

The payroll looms large

for key US-made capital goods rose more than expected in September, a positive sign ahead of next week’s release of the advance estimate of third-quarter GDP next week.

Late next week sees the release of the influential monthly jobs report, which will garner a lot of attention, especially after last month’s release came in much hotter than expected and dampened expectations for more substantial cuts from the Fed.

Increased odds of a Donald Trump presidency, compared to Kamala Harris, also saw markets positioning themselves for inflationary US policy in the coming years.

(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)