Wall Street closed at a record high level on Friday supported by strong jobs data for April. A solid first-quarter 2026 earnings season was an added positive. All three major stock indexes ended in positive territory. For the last week, these indexes also finished in green too.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose marginally by 0.02% to close at 49,609.16. Notably, 13 components of the 30-stock index ended in positive territory while 17 ended in negative territory. The major gainer of the blue-chip index was Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO.
The stock price of the global network equipment manufacturing giant surged 4.8%. Cisco Systems currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). ). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 26,247.08, advancing 1.7% or 440.88 points due to the solid performance by technology bigwigs. This marked the tech-laden index’s new record close. The index touched an intraday all-time high of 26,248.62.
The S&P 500 gained 0.8% to finish at 7,398.93, reflecting the benchmark’s new record closing high. The index touched an intraday all-time high of 7,401.50. However, nine out of 11 sectors of the broad-market index ended in negative territory while two ended in positive territory.
The Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE), the Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) fell 1.8%, 1.6%, 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 0.6% to 17.19. A total of 17.2 billion shares were traded on Friday, lower than the last 20-session average of 17.6 billion. The S&P 500 recorded 28 new 52-week highs and 30 new 52-week lows. The Nasdaq registered 134 new 52-week highs and 119 new 52-week lows.
Strong Jobs Data
The Department of Labor reported that the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, significantly higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 48,000. The metric for March was revised upward to 185,000 from 178,000 reported earlier.
The unemployment rate remained flat month over month at 4.3% in April, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The real unemployment rate (including discouraged workers and the underemployed) rose 0.2% month over month to 8.2%.
The household survey, which the bureau uses to calculate the unemployment rate, reported that household employment declined 226,000 as the labor force participation rate declined to 61.8%, the lowest since October 2021. The part-time employment level jumped by 445,000, the largest increase since February 2025, to 4.9 million.
Average hourly wage rate increased by 0.2% in April, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 0.3% but in line with March’s metric. Year over year, average hourly earnings increased 3.6% in April, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 3.8%. Average workweek increased marginally to 34.3 in April from 34.2 in March.
Other Economic Data
University of Michigan reported that the preliminary index for the consumer sentiment index came in at 48.2% in May, below the consensus estimate of 49.7%. The metric for April was 49.8%. The preliminary data of May marked the lowest reading since June 2022.
The subindex for current economic condition fell to 47.8% in May from 52.5% in April. The subindex for consumer expectations rose to 48.5% in May from 48.1% in April. The 1-year inflation index fell to 4.5% in May from 4.7% in April. The long-term 5-year inflation index edged down to 3.4% in May from 3.5% in April.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that construction spending rose 0.6% in March, in contrast to the 0.2% decline in February. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was an increase of 0.5%.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the wholesale inventories increased by 1.3% in March, below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 1.4%. The metric for February was revised upward by 0.9% from 0.8% reported earlier.
Weekly Roundup
Last week was strong for U.S. stock markets due to solid first-quarter 2026 earnings results and the growing momentum for the artificial intelligence (AI) trade. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 climbed 4.5% and 2.3%, respectively. Both indexes posted six straight winning weeks, marking the longest win streak since 2024. However, the Dow rose a mere 0.2%.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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