Stocks Climb After Strong April Jobs Data And Apple Earnings: Energy And Regional Banks Rebound

U.S. stocks climbed higher on Friday as investors welcomed Apple, Inc.'s AAPL strong quarterly results and the better-than-expected jobs figures in April. 

Regional banks and growth-sensitive sectors like energy and consumer discretionary rose sharply as traders lowered their expectations of an upcoming economic slump.
Cues From Friday's Trading:

All major U.S. averages traded deeply in the green Friday, with the S&P 500 up 1.5%, the Nasdaq 100 up 1.65% and the Dow Jones Industrial adding 400 points or 1.2%. 

Analyst Color:

It’s "Sell In May" indeed, said Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick in a tweet. With the S&P 500 Index down for the first days of May, the market has witnessed the longest losing streak to start a month since December 2022, which saw a five-session losing streak at the start of the month, he said.

The longest-ever has been nine in a row in December 1980, he added.

Detrick noted that the last time, the S&P 500 Index was down all five days of the week, ie Monday through Friday, was in late February 2020. The last time this happened in May was in 2012, he said.

“Long way to go, but $AAPL trying to make sure it doesn’t happen,” Detrick said.

Friday's Trading In Major US Equity ETFs: In midday trading on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 1.5% higher to $411.06, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF DIA rose 1.2% to $335.36 and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ was up by 1.7% to $321.27, according to Benzinga Pro data.

All U.S. equity sectors were positive, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK outperforming, up 2.7%, followed by the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund XLK, up 2.2%, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY, up 1.4%.

Latest Economic Data:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 253,000 nonfarm payroll increase in April, more than the 180,000 jobs predicted. 

The unemployment rate in the United States fell from 3.6% to 3.4%, reaching 50-year lows and below market expectations of 3.6%.

Average hourly wages climbed by 16 cents, or 0.5%, to $33.36 following a 0.3% gain in March and better than the expected 0.3%. 

Fed Govenor Lisa Cook is due to speak at 1 p.m. EDT.

The Federal Reserve is set to release its monthly report on consumer credit at 3 p.m. EDT. The consensus estimate calls for the metric to come in at $16.4 billion in March, more than February’s $15.29 billion.

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Stocks In Focus:

• Carvana Co. CVNA rose over 30% following the release of its quarterly results.
• Regional bank stocks, Western Alliance Bancorp. WAL, PacWest Bancorp. PACW, First Horizon Corp. FHN, East West Bancorp. EWBC and KeyCorp. KEY all rebounded solidly amid reports that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is planning to exempt smaller banks from contributing to its deposit insurance fund and instead ask big banks to make a bigger contribution.
• Lyft, Inc. LYFT and Atlassian Corp. TEAM plummeted on downbeat earnings.
• Apple rose over 2.3% following its better-than-expected results.
• AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. AMC, Fluor Corp. FLR and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. WBD were among the companies reporting results before the market opened.

Commodities, Bonds, Other Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil soared 3.5%, with a barrel of WTI-grade crude rising to $71. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO was 3.2% higher to $68 per share.  

Treasury yields rocketed, with the 10-year yield rising by 7 basis points to 3.46% and the two-year yield up 13 basis points to 3.93%. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT was 0.6% lower on the day. 

The dollar slightly weakened, with the U.S. dollar index, which is tracked by the Invesco DB USD Index Bullish Fund ETF UUP, down 0.2%. The EUR/USD pair, which is tracked by the Invesco CurrecyShares Euro Currency Trust FXE, edged 0.2% higher to 1.1026.   

European equity indices all closed in the green. The iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF EZU rose 1.3%. 

Gold fell 1.7% to $2,015/oz. The SPDR Gold Trust GLD was 2% lower to $187.24. Silver dropped 1.7% up to $25.58, with the iShares Silver Trust SLV dropping 1.8% to $23.51 per share. Bitcoin BTC/USD rose 3% to $29,620.

Staff writer Piero Cingari updated this report midday Friday. 

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