Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones, S&P 500: Wrap up April with Modest Gains Amidst Mixed Earnings Reports

US Stock Market Highlights

• U.S. stock market gains modestly across major indexes
• Earnings, data, and Fed steer market direction
• Tech earnings yield mixed results, cause market volatility

US Stock Market Overview

The U.S. stock market closed higher on Friday, with all three major indexes posting weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the month with a 2.5% gain, its best showing since January. The S&P 500 also posted a positive month with a 1.5% gain, marking its second consecutive month of gains. However, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended the month only slightly higher than its March 31 close.

Investors were focusing on three factors driving the market: earnings, economic data, and the Federal Reserve’s actions. The latest crop of technology earnings were closely watched. The Nasdaq saw the largest weekly gain of 1.3% during what was considered Big Tech’s marquee earnings week.

While benchmark Treasury yields dipped, data confirmed that inflation is cooling, which could allow the Federal Reserve to pause after next week’s expected rate hike. Overall, the market is expected to follow earnings, which are considered the mother’s milk of the market.

Tech Stocks Mixed After Q1 Earnings

Data from FactSet shows that just over half of the S&P 500 companies have reported earnings so far. The Earnings Scout reports that 80% beat expectations, in line with the three-year average beat rate.

Amazon’s shares closed down almost 4% after reporting that its cloud business had decelerated, despite beating revenue expectations for the quarter. Snap also saw a significant drop of 17% following a revenue miss, while Pinterest’s shares fell by 15.7% due to disappointing second-quarter revenue growth expectations. First Solar missed Wall Street expectations for the first quarter and slid more than 9%.

However, not all tech stocks experienced a decline after their respective earnings releases. Intel shares rose 4% after the semiconductor company beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

PCE Index in Line with Expectations

On Friday, the personal consumption expenditures price index was released, showing a 0.3% rise in March, which was in line with economist expectations. This index is a crucial measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, which has an upcoming policy meeting scheduled for next week.

In other news, First Republic Bank’s shares plummeted over 43% following a report by CNBC’s David Faber that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is likely to take receivership of the troubled regional bank. The stock has experienced a staggering decline of more than 97% since the beginning of the year.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.