U.S. stock markets closed higher on Friday as market participants remained busy to weigh the impact of the Trump administrations tariff and trade policies. Better-than-expected first-quarter 2025 earnings results so far and improvement of a key economic data also boosted investors’ sentiment. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory. Moreover, these three indexes also witnessed a strong last week.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose marginally by 0.1% to close at 40,113.50. Notably, 17 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory and 13 finished in negative zone. The major gainer of the blue-chip index was NVIDIA Corp. NVDA. The stock price of the global chipset giant for generative artificial intelligence was up 4.3%. NVDA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 17,382.94, advancing 1.3% or 216.90 points due to strong of technology bigwigs. The S&P 500 was up 0.7% to finish at 5,525.21. Seven out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory and four in positive zone.
The Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) declined 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. On the other hand, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) appreciated 1.85 and 1.5%, respectively.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 6.2% to 24.84, marking its lowest level in April. A total of 14.30 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 19.13 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.33-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.14-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Better-Than First-Quarter Earnings So Far
As of April 25, 179 companies of the S&P 500 index have reported their quarterly financial numbers. Total earnings for these 179 index members are up 18% from the same period last year on 4.2% revenue gains. Out of this, 69.8% of the companies beat EPS estimates and 63.7% beat revenue estimates. This week will be crucial for this reporting cycle as five members of the “magnificent 7” group will declare their results.
Economic Data
The University of Michigan reported that the final reading of the consumer sentiment index in April came in at 52.2%, ahead of April’s preliminary reading as well as the consensus mark of 50.8%. The final reading for March was 57%. April’s final reading is the lowest since July 2022.
April’s final reading for the sub-index of current economic conditions was recorded at 59.8% compared with 63.8% in March. April’s final reading for the sub-index of consumer expectations was posted at 47.3% compared with 52.6% in March.
In final April reading, one-year inflation expectation came in at 6.5% compared with 6.7% in April’s preliminary reading and 5% in March’s final reading. This reflects the highest reading since 1981 and marking four consecutive months of unusually large increases of 0.5% or more. Long-run (5-years) inflation expectations climbed from 4.1% in March to 4.4% in April.
Weekly Roundup
Last week was an excellent one for Wall Street. Ongoing negotiations related to tariffs and trade policies between the United States and other countries bolstered investors’ confidence on risky assets like equities. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite – rallied 2.5%, 4.6% and 6.7%, respectively.
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NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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