U.S. stocks settled higher on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 1% during the session following a sharp rise in Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares.

The S&P 500 fell 0.1%, while the Nasdaq dipped 3.2% in July.

However, the Dow gained 0.3% during the period, recording its fourth straight positive month.

Wall Street analysts make new stock picks on a daily basis.

Unfortunately for investors, not all analysts have particularly impressive track records at predicting market movements.