Nasdaq Surges 2%; Apple Posts Upbeat Results

U.S. stocks traded higher midway through trading, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 2% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.16% to 38,670.87 while the NASDAQ rose 2% to 16,157.26. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.24% to 5,127.07            .

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 3.2% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.3%.

Top Headline

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) reported better-than-expected results for its second quarter.

The company announced a $110-billion stock buyback program and a one-penny-per-share increase in its quarterly dividend.

Equities Trading UP
                       

Equities Trading DOWN

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.6% to $78.45 while gold traded down 0.2% at $2,306.20.

Silver traded down 0.5% to $26.70 on Friday, while copper rose 1.5% to $4.5535.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.46%, Germany's DAX rose 0.59% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.54%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.16%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.51%.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone came in at a record low level of 6.5% in March. The S&P Global UK services PMI rose to 55 in April from 53.1 a month ago. France's government budget deficit shrank to EUR 52.78 billion in January-March 2024 compared to EUR 54.72 billion in the year-ago period, while France's industrial production declined 0.3% month-over-month in March.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumping 1.48% and S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.98%.

Retail sales in Hong Kong fell 8.6% year-over-year in March versus a 0.5% gain in the prior month..      

Economics

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