After diving right into the red all morning, the Dow zoomed way up 239 points right after the noon hour. Though no reason was given on this timing, I can only guess that it was at noon that Facebook announced its stellar Q1 results which propelled it to its biggest single-day gain in five months and sent both the S&P and Nasdaq to the upside as well.  With Amazon turning in its glowing report after the bell, can we surmise there will be still another run up tomorrow?  Over half the S&P has now reported in with 87% topping estimates. This has caused the Q1 earnings estimate to once again be revised to the upside, today to a whopping 45% vs yesterday’s 39% vs 25% a few weeks ago. And the market was really nervous about that 25% being way overly optimistic.  Investors may finally now be buying it.  Volume has finally caught up to the 4-week average, today at 10.5 billion. The S&P has gained 12% YTD, the Nasdaq 9 percent. 

THU  APRIL 29, 2021  4:29 PM 

Facebook fuels S&P 500 to record high close

By Noel Randewich, Shivani Kumaresan

DJ: 33,820.38  -164.55         NAS: 14,051.03  -39.19         S&P: 4,183.18  -3.54        4/28

DJ: 34,060.36  +239.98        NAS: 14,082.55  +31.52        S&P: 4,211.47  +28.29     4/29

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at a record high on Thursday, fueled by gains in Facebook following its strong earnings report, while Amazon jumped in extended trade following its quarterly report.  Facebook Inc rallied 7.3% to an all-time high after the world’s largest social network beat quarterly revenue and profit late on Wednesday. It was its biggest single-day gain in five months and easily contributed the most upside to both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.  The communication services index led the 11 sectors higher with a 2.75% gain, boosted by Facebook and Alphabet.  Apple Inc dipped 0.07% despite late on Wednesday posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on strong iPhone and Mac sales.

“Investors are really looking for significantly outsized results, and also outsized guidance as they look ahead to upcoming quarters,” said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS Investments. “We believe a lot of optimism has already been baked into the market, and we are cautioning investors to expect significant volatility.”

In extended trade, Amazon jumped 3% after reporting quarterly sales that beat analysts’ expectations as the e-commerce giant continued to benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic-driven online shopping boom.  Also after the bell, Twitter tumbled 9% following its quarterly report, with the company warning about rising costs and slower growth.

Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 87% have topped analysts’ earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 45% jump in profit growth.   U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter, fueled by massive government aid to households and businesses, while a labor market report showed 553,000 people filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000 in the prior period.

Caterpillar Inc dipped about 2% after it reported higher quarterly earnings but warned of supply-chain bottlenecks.  Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc slid 4.4% after posting a drop in quarterly profit.  McDonald’s rose 1.2% after the burger chain beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly comparable sales and said it returned to pre-pandemic levels of growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.71% to end at 34,060.36 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.68% to 4,211.47.  The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.22% to 14,082.55.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.5 billion shares, compared with the 9.9 billion full-session average over the last 20 trading days.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.08-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.19-to-1 ratio favored decliners.  The S&P 500 posted 120 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 150 new highs and 30 new lows.

The S&P 500 is now up 12% in 2021, while the Nasdaq has gained 9%.