Thursday, May 1, 2025

Stocks close higher, lifted by Microsoft, Meta earnings

Stocks close higher, lifted by Microsoft, Meta earnings

By Chuck Mikolajczak

Thu May 1, 2025 4:29 PM

 

Today was yet another demonstration of how easily sentiment can change on Wall Street. Q1 on two of the Magnificent Seven – Microsoft and Meta – came in today and the reports were glowing, glowing enough to at least momentarily convince investors that the tariffs weren’t hurting earnings after all. This sent the three indexes way up, the Dow up a big 430 points by 11:30. But the reveries were short-lived as the decline began after that with the reality check that there remains a great deal of uncertainty with still many companies completely foregoing any forecasts.  

Except the Nasdaq, benefiting from the tech and AI surge, the Dow and S&P lost almost all their gains but still closed positive, leaving both indexes with 8 straight days of gains. This is the longest for the Dow in a year, for the S&P since August. There was also the negative news of layoffs being more than expected following yesterday’s report of job openings being less than expected, indicating more layoffs on the way with more tariffs. Also following yesterday’s GDP contraction, today’s ISM report showed a contraction in manufacturing with output down and supply prices up. Reports from Amazon and Apple are coming tomorrow. Volume came in at 16.1 billion, still well below the average of 19.5 billion. 

DJ: 40,669.36  +141.74      NAS: 17,446.34  -14.98       S&P: 5,569.06  +8.23          4/30

DJ: 40,752.96  +83.60        NAS: 17,710.74  +264.40    S&P: 5,604.14  +35.08        5/1

Thu 5-1-25 4:29 pm Stocks close higher, lifted by Microsoft, Meta earnings | Reuters


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