Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., December 9, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Friday as it moved closer to notching its best month since January.
The blue-chip index traded 245 points, or 0.7%, higher. The S&P 500 also added 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.5%, seeing relatively muted gains as the latest crop of technology earnings weighed on investor sentiment.
With just Friday’s session left in the trading month, the Dow is on pace to finish April 2.4% higher. That would be its best monthly showing since January, when the average ended up 2.8%. The S&P 500 is poised for a 1.3% monthly gain, while the Nasdaq is on track to end the month down 0.2%.
On a weekly basis, the Nasdaq is slated for the largest gain, at 1.1%, in what has been considered Big Tech’s marquee earnings week. The Dow and S&P 500 are poised to finish the week about 0.8% higher each.
Just over half of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings thus far. Of those companies, 80% have beaten expectations, according to data from FactSet. That beat rate is roughly in line with a three-year average, according to data from The Earnings Scout.
“The market should follow earnings,” said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management. “That is the mother’s milk of the market.”
Amazon shares were down about 3%. When reporting first-quarter results, the online retailer said its cloud business decelerated, though it did beat Wall Street’s expectations for revenue in the quarter.
Snap tumbled nearly 18% following a revenue miss. Pinterest shares fell 18% after issuing disappointing second-quarter revenue growth expectations. First Solar dropped more than 11% after missing Wall Street expectations for the first quarter, putting the stock on pace for its worst day since 2020.
Not every tech stock was down following their respective releases. Intel shares climbed about 4% after the semiconductor firm beat estimates on…
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