The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq advanced to record closing highs on Friday, boosted by robust earnings and a dip in crude prices, and turning the page on their biggest monthly percentage gains in years.
The S&P 500 joined the Nasdaq in positive territory, with tech strength putting the latter out front. Both indexes logged their sixth consecutive weekly advances, their longest run of weekly gains since October 2024.
The blue-chip Dow ended the session modestly lower.
As May begins, the stock market embarks on what is historically a weak six-month stretch. From 1945 through April 2026, the S&P 500 has gained an average of about 2% from May to October, according to data from Fidelity. That compares with an average gain of about 7% from November through April.
Wrapping up a momentous week for corporate earnings, in which reporting companies accounted for more than two-fifths of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization, analysts now see aggregate first-quarter earnings growth of 27.8%, year-on-year, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.
Five of the companies in the Magnificent Seven group of artificial intelligence-related stocks reported this week, and investors paid close attention to the timing and extent to which huge investments in the nascent technology are starting to pay off.
That’s an 11.7 percentage point increase from where the estimate stood a week ago, and marks the biggest earnings growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Of the 314 companies that have posted results, 83% have beaten earnings estimates, and 78% reported better-than-expected revenue, according to LSEG.
“Today’s action is really the cherry on top of another solid week for investors as earnings season continues to come in stronger than expected,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “At the same time, we had the second-best April for the S&P 500 since 1950.”
“It looks like that upward momentum very well could continue in May,” Detrick added.
Progress toward a peaceful resolution to the US-Israeli war on Iran appeared stalled, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz putting upward pressure on energy prices and stoking inflation worries.
But front-month crude futures CLc1 eased after Iran was reported to have submitted a fresh proposal for negotiations with Washington.
“Investors are pricing out how long they expect that supply disruption to last, and then differentiating who’s got the most sensitivity to that disruption,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
Economic data showed US factory activity expanded in April for the fourth consecutive month, but the prices-paid component – an inflation predictor – jumped to its hottest level in four years, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 152.87 points, or 0.31%, to 49,499.27, the S&P 500 gained 21.11 points, or 0.29%, to 7,230.12 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 222.13 points, or 0.89%, to 25,114.44.
Among the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, technology stocks enjoyed the biggest percentage gains, while energy shares dropped the most.
Apple shares advanced 3.3% after the company provided a solid sales forecast, touting strong demand for its flagship iPhone 17 and the MacBook Neo.
Software companies climbed after Atlassian lifted its annual forecast. The enterprise software maker surged 29.6%.
Peers Salesforce and ServiceNow added 4.1% and 3.2%, respectively.
Roblox fell 18.3% following a cut in its annual bookings forecast. Reddit jumped 13.1% after an upbeat quarterly revenue forecast.
Exxon Mobil’s quarterly profit was hit by Middle East disruptions, while Chevron beat earnings expectations but overall profit marked its lowest level in five years. The supermajors dipped 1.0% and 1.4%, respectively.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 578 new highs and 63 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,957 stocks rose and 1,753 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.69-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 45 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 132 new highs and 51 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 15.27 billion shares, compared with the 17.64 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
