Stock market today: Dow jumps 500 points, Nasdaq surges nearly 3% as Wall Street rallies for 3rd straight day

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:

Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) announced its fiscal first quarter earnings on Thursday, beating on the top and bottom lines. The company also said it is boosting its dividend by 5% and authorized another $70 billion in stock buybacks.

Google’s stock price jumped more than 3% on the news.

For Q1, Google reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.81 on revenue of $90.2 billion. Analysts were expecting EPS of $2.01 on revenue of $89.1 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates.

The company reported EPS of $1.89 on revenue of $80.5 billion during the same period last year.

Google’s advertising revenue topped out at $66.8 billion versus expectations of $66.4 billion. Google Cloud Platform revenue was $12.2 billion versus expectations of $12.3 billion. The segment saw $9.5 billion in revenue in Q1 2024.

Read more here.

US stocks rallied on Thursday, with Big Tech leading the way.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped 1.3%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained nearly 2.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose around 2.7%. The “Magnificent Seven” megacap stocks all gained.

Over the past three trading sessions, the Nasdaq has soared over 8% followed by the S&P 500 at about 6% and the Dow at over 5%.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports on Wall Street’s reaction after Chipotle earnings indicated a consumer slowdown:

Read more here.

The crypto bid is still alive and well in markets despite the Trump tariff turmoil.

Cantor Equity Partners (CEP) stock is up more than 63% on Thursday and is a top trending ticker on the Yahoo Finance website. The move comes after a SPAC merger announcement on Wednesday with Twenty One Capital, which is “expected to offer investors a singular vehicle for Bitcoin exposure, pro-Bitcoin advocacy, and Bitcoin-focused content and media with plans to explore future expansion into Bitcoin-native financial products.”

Strike CEO Jack Mallers, a longtime bitcoin advocate, is serving as the CEO of Twenty One Capital. In the press release, Mallers described the company’s mission as “a public stock, built by Bitcoiners, for Bitcoiners.”

Twenty One Capital is expected to launch with more than 42,000 bitcoins.

While the merger isn’t completed yet, today’s market action provides insight into investor sentiment surrounding bitcoin, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency is now at $93,000 per coin, up more than 6% in the past month as the US equity market has tumbled.

Markets reassess ‘sell America’ trade as yields dip, dollar wobbles

Wall Street’s “sell America” trade wavered on Thursday as US stocks roared higher in a three-day rally sparked by easing trade tensions, although mixed messages from the Trump administration tempered investor enthusiasm and kept markets on edge over the durability of any potential deals.

Earlier this week, investors dumped both US stocks and traditional safe havens, with the 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) spiking above 4.4% and the US dollar (DX-Y.NYB) sinking to its lowest level since 2022.

The unusual move, pulling back from both risk assets and volatility hedges, is seen as a rare dislocation, with strategists dubbing it the infamous “sell America” trade. But those trends began to reverse this week as investors bought back into US debt and currencies.

On Wednesday, the 10-year yield dropped to around 4.3%, and the dollar edged closer to the psychologically important 100 level. Meanwhile, gold (GC=F), which had set several records in recent days as investors flocked to non-dollar-denominated, globally recognized stores of value, retreated on Wednesday to around $3,290 per ounce — further signaling that the “sell America” trade was winding down.

But Thursday’s trading action saw gold prices once again spike to around $3,340 an ounce as the dollar also lost steam. Bucking the trend: 10-year Treasury yields, which had bounced higher late Wednesday, but returned to around 4.3% levels on Thursday.

Read more here.

Goldman Sachs revised its first quarter GDP forecast downward, indicating that the US economy likely shrank in the first three months of the year.

The adjustment follows a sharper-than-expected 5.9% drop in existing home sales in March, which fell to 4.02 million units. Additionally, new data on durable goods, released Thursday, points to slower inventory growth than previously anticipated.

As a result, Goldman cut its Q1 GDP growth estimate by 0.3 percentage points to -0.2%.

Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

Read more here.

Dovish comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack on Thursday were helping drive the market higher on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.7%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.8% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained 1.8%.

During an interview with CNBC Thursday morning, Hammack ruled out a May interest rate cut but indicated that policymakers could move forward with one in June if the data is clear by then.

“If we have clear and convincing data by June, then I think you’ll see the committee move if we know which way is the right way to move at that point in time,” Hammack said.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned recently of an unclear path for policy makers in the short term as the impact of President Trump’s tariff policy plays out. Powell has warned of persistent inflation and slower growth due to the policy.

Two crypto-related ventures tied to President Trump are surging this week.

Trump’s cryptocurrency, $TRUMP (TRUMP-OFFICIAL-USD), soared 33% on Thursday.

Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports that the rally in the meme coin came after an announcement Wednesday that there will be a gala dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., for the coin’s 220 biggest holders. The 25 biggest Trump coin holders will also receive a “special tour” and VIP reception with the president.

It’s the latest sign of Trump’s financial involvement with the crypto industry.

Earlier in the week, Truth Social parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), said it will partner with Crypto.com to launch a series of ETFs under the Truth.Fi brand. These ETFs would hold “Made in America” crypto and stocks.

Shares of DJT fell over 1% on Thursday but are up more than 30% over the past five days.

Read more here about Trump’s embrace of the crypto industry.

Intel (INTC) stock rose as much as roughly 4% early Thursday before paring gains ahead of its first earnings report since gaining a new CEO.

A semiconductor industry veteran, Intel’s new chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, was appointed to the role in March, replacing his ousted predecessor, Pat Gelsinger. Former executives say Tan is the chipmaker’s last hope for a turnaround.

But Tan is inheriting a company whose financial losses have made it a takeover target in recent months, and rumors have swirled of the government stepping in to save the firm as the US looks to strengthen domestic chip manufacturing. Intel’s fledgling new manufacturing division, which makes chips for outside customers and has won support from US CHIPS Act funding, is bleeding cash and straining financials just as Intel’s chips lose market share to rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Intel’s earnings report may reveal details about Tan’s intentions for the company and whether its latest chip manufacturing process, 18A, is on track. That process is the company’s last hope to catch up to rival TSMC (TSM) and attract much-needed outside customers.

Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley has more on the upcoming earnings report here.

Intel stock also jumped on Wednesday following a report that Intel will eliminate 20% of its workforce.

Yahoo Finance’s Josh Schafer reports:

Read more here.

Nvidia (NVDA) rose 2% Thursday morning, leading the “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks higher as the group climbed for a third day.

Tesla (TSLA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOG) trailed closely behind Nvidia, rising nearly 2%. Meta (META) and Amazon (AMZN) rose more than 1%, while Apple (AAPL) climbed less than 1%.

The group extended its rally that began Tuesday as the Trump administration hinted at a potential deescalation of the US-China trade war. China has denied that it’s made any progress in trade talks with the US since being slapped with 145% “reciprocal tariffs” by Trump.

The Magnificent Seven stock gains added more than $840 billion to their cumulative market capitalizations between Monday’s close and the end of Wednesday’s trading session.

The rally comes amid a volatile year as Trump’s ever-changing trade policies rock the stock market, with tech stocks feeling the brunt of the impact. The Magnificent Seven stocks are all down year to date.

Meanwhile, Big Tech earnings season is underway. Google parent Alphabet is set to report earnings after the bell Thursday. Microsoft, Meta, Apple, and Amazon earnings are next week.

The resale housing market stalled in March during a critical selling season as high mortgage rates sidelined buyers, deepening affordability challenges.

Existing home sales declined nearly 6% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. This marked the steepest monthly decrease since November 2022. Economists polled by Bloomberg had expected sales to reach 4.15 million.

Sales remain down, with a 2.4% decrease from last year and a drop from 4.12 million in March 2024.

“Home buying and selling remained sluggish in March due to the affordability challenges associated with high mortgage rates,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a press release. “Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society.”

House hunters remain on the fence about buying a home as mortgage rates march toward 7%. Separate data shows applications to purchase a home fell for a second week to the lowest level since February, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Netflix stock just hit a new all-time high of above $1,070 a share.

The move comes after the company reported earnings last week that topped expectations and solidified the company’s position as a defensive player in an industry grappling with economic uncertainty tied to President Trump’s trade war, according to Wall Street analysts.

“Netflix [is] playing offense, while stock remains defensive,” JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a client note published on Sunday, echoing recent industry comments that the platform remains the “cleanest story in internet.”

The stock’s resilience is a standout in the tech landscape as rising costs, regulatory pressures, tariff whiplash, and a potential slowdown in advertising revenue have weighed on shares of many Big Tech leaders this year.

During the earnings call, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the company was closely monitoring consumer sentiment amid tariff-related uncertainty but had seen no significant changes in its business performance.

“We’re paying close attention clearly to the consumer sentiment and where the broader economy is moving,” Peters said. “But based on what we are seeing by actually operating the business right now, there’s nothing really significant to note.”

Read more about what Wall Street has said about Netflix here.

Four times a year, US companies give away more information about their business than they’d like.

For investors, this quarterly ritual is a chance to get an update on the state of America’s largest companies, the overall economy, and get a certain outline of where things are headed next.

But the earnings period is starting to look like it might fall way short of meeting these marks.

For one thing, companies are pulling guidance left and right because of uncertainty related to Trump’s tariffs. American Airlines (AAL) is just the latest. It’s an expected outcome, of course, because if you can’t feel good about internal forecasts, why would you offer investor-facing guidance? After all, guidance isn’t a required disclosure.

Another emerging trend, however, might be even more challenging for investors: demand (and profits) getting pulled forward.

In a note to clients on Thursday morning, Wamsi Mohan and the team at Bank of America lowered their price target on Apple stock by $10/share while raising their sales estimates for its most recent and current quarter “driven by some pull forward of demand” due to tariffs.

For the balance of the year, Mohan’s team cut these estimates “to adjust for higher costs of navigating a more complex supply chain and for delays in launching an AI enabled Siri.”

This indicates that the company is really facing headwinds on three fronts: consumer demand related to tariffs, supply chain issues related to tariffs, and strategic questions.

All businesses always face the third. That’s what business is: a rolling series of strategic decisions that are either working or not.

But the first two are where we’re finding the bulk of companies and analysts spending the bulk of their time. And neither the impact on consumer spending nor the impact on business investment from tariffs is easily quantifiable right now.

Making the most pressing economic question facing companies and their workers unanswerable, while the most persistent economic questions facing companies and their workers get put on the back burner.

US stocks were mixed on Thursday following a two-day rally as traders weighed the latest Trump administration tariff developments and China denied deal talks were taking place with Washington.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.4%. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose above the flatline, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained 0.2%.

Stocks have rallied over the past two days in hopes that some sort of deal between the US with China will come to fruition, or tariffs on the country would be reduced substantially. On Thursday however China’s Ministry of Commerce indicated Beijing was not negotiating a deal with Washington.

The trade war is already impacting company outlooks. American Airlines (AAL) pulled its full-year guidance on Thursday, saying it intends to post it when the economic outlook becomes clearer.

Meanwhile PepsiCo cut its guidance. The beverage company now sees no earnings growth in 2025. It previously expected low-single-digit percentage growth.

An emerging theme in the US economy is the idea of businesses and consumers front-running tariffs by pulling forward spending to get ahead of price increases.

Thursday morning’s durable goods order release from the Census Bureau might be the best example yet.

Durable goods orders rose 9.2% in March from the previous month, blowing away forecasts for a 2% rise as one of the biggest increases in aircraft orders on record pushed the number above consensus.

Aircraft orders rose 190% in March, which Oliver Allen, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said was “likely driven in part by worries about tariffs.”

Excluding defense spending, durable goods orders rose 10.4%. In Allen’s view, however, the balance of Thursday’s report showed, “[the main measures of underlying orders were relatively weak in March.”

And with tariffs likely to further upset the ability for businesses to commit to new, large outlays, “Far weaker capital goods orders and equipment investment surely lie ahead, however, over the next few quarters.

“The rush of pre-tariff activity probably now will unwind sharply, policy uncertainty is so intense that many new investment projects will be paused or shelved, and capital goods exports to China will nosedive.”

In markets, sentiment spurs action, Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland wrote in today’s Morning Brief. And the current levels of pessimism owing to tariff-related uncertainty may be approaching a sentiment washout. Myles writes:

Read more here.