Wall Street Eyes 9th Straight Day Of Gains, Apple Falls As Chinese Sales Disappoint: What's Driving Markets Friday?

U.S. stocks advanced across the board by midday Friday, with the S&P 500 eyeing its ninth consecutive day of gains—poised for the longest winning streak since May 2024.

Risk appetite remained firm, underpinned by solid corporate earnings and a stronger-than-expected April jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 177,000, beating expectations of 130,000 and easing concerns over tariff-related hiring slowdowns.

All eleven S&P 500 sectors traded in positive territory, led slightly by financials over technology. Major indexes have now fully recovered from the declines sparked on April 2, when President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs across trading partners.

The Nasdaq 100 climbed to levels last seen in late March, capping a strong week for tech stocks. Among the Magnificent Seven, all were on pace to close the week higher except Apple Inc. AAPL, which slipped 4% as strong earnings were overshadowed by weaker sales in China.

The U.S. dollar index resumed its decline, pressured by renewed calls from President Trump for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates ahead of next week’s policy meeting.

Treasury yields surged following the upbeat jobs data, with the 10-year note jumping 10 basis points to 4.31%, easing recession concerns entering the second quarter.

In commodities, oil prices fell back to $58 per barrel despite Thursday’s rally on heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Gold rebounded 0.5%, set to snap a three-day losing streak, while natural gas prices jumped 4.4% to a two-week high.

Bitcoin BTC/USD edged up 1% to $97,500, marking its fourth straight week of gains.

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 1.2% to $565.03.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA rose 0.9% to $411.29.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ rallied 1.4% to $488.26.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM soared 1.8% to $199.58.
• The Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF outperformed, up 1.7%; the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund XLP lagged, up 0.3%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

Stocks reacting to earnings reports included:

• Apple Inc.: down 4.0%
• Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN: up 0.2%
• Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM: up 0.0%
• Chevron Corporation CVX: up 0.7%
• Eaton Corporation plc ETN: down 2.1%
• Amgen Inc. AMGN: down 1.8%
• Cigna Group CI: down 0.5%
• Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. AJG: up 3.5%
• Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. MPWR: up 4.0%
• DexCom, Inc. DXCM: up 14.2%
• Apollo Global Management, Inc. APO: down 1.7%
• T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. TROW: up 3.5%
• Cboe Global Markets, Inc. CBOE: up 1.2%
• Mettler-Toledo International Inc. MTD: up 1.4%
• Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. LYV: up 0.1%
• Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI: down 6.2%
• Airbnb, Inc. ABNB: down 0.2%

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