Wall Street extended its earnings to its ninth straight day on Friday, marking the longest winning streak in stocks since 2004 and retracting ground lost since President Donald Trump escalated his trade war in early April.
The rally was met with expected reports on the U.S. job market and hopes for a trade showdown with China in the U.S. is re-thought.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.5%. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.4%, while Nasdaq Comprehensive rose 1.5%.
Great returns. About 90% of the S&P 500 stocks and every field. Technology inventory is one of the most heavily employed companies. Microsoft grew 2.3%, while NVIDIA rose 2.5%. However, Apple fell 3.7% after iPhone maker estimates tariffs will cost $900 million.
Banks and other financial companies have also made reliable returns. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.3% and visas closed at 1.5%.
Employers added 177,000 jobs in April. This marks a slowdown in hiring from March, but is better than economists expect. However, the latest working figures have not yet reflected the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s comprehensive tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Many of the more serious tariffs that were supposed to come into effect in April were delayed for three months, but it is worth noting that tariffs on China.
"If the government advances its initial tariff plan, we've seen how financial markets will react, so unless they take a different strategy when the 90-day pause expires, we'll see similar market actions as in the first week of April," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management.
In the first week of April, Trump announced more tariffs on his trade war escalated, with the S&P 500 falling 9.1%. Since then, the market has now cut losses, helped by a series of flexible earnings reports from U.S. companies, hoping trade tensions with China are lowered and expecting the Fed to lower interest rates several times this year.
The benchmark index has remained down 3.3% so far this year, 7.4% lower than the record reached in February.
All in all, the S&P 500 rose 82.53 points to 5,686.67. The Dow Jones Index scored 564.47 points to 41,317.43, while Nasdaq stock rose 266.99 points to 17,977.73.
Keep an eye on signs of pressure in the job market amid tensions in the trade war. Over the past few years, strong employment has helped boost consumer spending and economic growth. Economists are now worried about the impact of import taxes on consumers and businesses, especially how costs will harm recruitment and spending.
The economy has shown signs of stress. The U.S. economy shrank by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year. The surge in imports slowed it down as businesses tried to raise Trump's tariffs.
The current round of tariffs and the temporary nature of Trump’s policies obscures plans for businesses and families. Companies have been cutting and withdrawing financial forecasts because of uncertainty over how much tariffs are imposed and the uncertainty they will squeeze consumer and SAP spending.
Hopefully, Trump will back some tariffs after negotiating trade agreements with other countries. China has been a key target with tariffs of 145%. Its Commerce Department said Beijing is evaluating U.S. tariff proposals.
After a busy week, investors' income reports are relatively quiet. Exxon Mobil recovered 0.4% from early slides after reporting its lowest first-quarter profit in several years. Competitor Chevron also reported its smallest first-quarter profit in years and rose by 1.6%.
The weight of the decline in crude oil prices on the industry. U.S. crude oil prices fell about 17% over the course of the year. They are below $60 a barrel this week, which is a level that many producers can no longer make money.
Block reported that after a sharp drop in first-quarter profits, Block fell 20.4%, without analyst forecasts. The financial technology company behind the cash app says a pullback in consumer spending is a key reason for the outcome when it comes to travel and other discretionary projects.
The Ministry of Finance's yields in the bond market rose. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.31% from 4.22% on Thursday night.