Wall Street Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Comp Hit Records on AAPL, AXTI, TEAM, SNDK, AMD, INTC Strength

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pushed further into record territory Friday as post-earnings rallies for Apple, Atlassian and ATX Inc. helped push multiple Big Techs higher, while oil prices eased on fresh hopes for U.S.-Iran peace.

The tech-heavy $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ gained 222.13 points (0.9%) to a 25,114.44 record close, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ added 21.11 ticks (0.3%) to a 7,230.12 best-ever finish.

Both indexes had set their previous record-high finishes just one day earlier. They also set new intraday records earlier Friday, besting all-time intraday highs notched on Thursday.

However, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ eased 152.87 points (0.3%) to end Friday at 49,499.27, falling in part on a 4.8% loss for Dow component $Amgen (AMGN.US)$ .

The drug giant fell after disclosing in its earnings call that it's facing a U.S. government tax dispute.

Macro

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose partly on gains for $Apple (AAPL.US)$(up 3.2%), $Atlassian (TEAM.US)$ (29.6% better) and $AXT Inc (AXTI.US)$ (ahead 21.2%) after all three reported well-received earnings late Thursday.

That helped spark a broad rally among multiple tech stocks. Other Big Techs to gain significant ground Friday included $NEBIUS (NBIS.US)$ (11.8% better), $CoreWeave (CRWV.US)$ (which added 6.6%), $Oracle (ORCL.US)$ (up 6.5%), $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ (3.6% firmer) and $Nokia Oyj (NOK.US)$ (up 3%).

Several Big Techs even hit all-time intraday highs during the session, although many pulled back some by the close.

Such stocks included $Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI.US)$ (which ended 11.7% higher), $SanDisk (SNDK.US)$ (up 8.3%), $Seagate Technology (STX.US)$ (7.9% firmer), $Intel (INTC.US)$(5.4% stronger), $Lumentum (LITE.US)$ (5.3% better), $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ (ahead 4.8%) and $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ (which ended 1.7% stronger).

Adding to Friday's good vibes, oil prices fell on renewed hopes for a permanent U.S.-Iran War peace deal.

First, published reports indicated that Tehran has submitted a new peace proposal to mediators.

Second, U.S. President Donald Trump argued in a letter to Congress that he doesn't need a legally required vote to authorize continuing hostilities beyond 60 days because an April 7 ceasefire "terminated" the war.

Such news helped push $Crude Oil Futures (JUL6) (CLmain.US)$ down 2.4% to $102.56 a barrel at last check. Rising oil prices since the war began have raised fears of inflation, higher interest rates and a global recession – all things that historically hurt stocks.

However, the fresh peace signals and Big Tech's large gains helped drive cryptocurrencies higher on Friday.

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ rose 2% to $77,938.14 as of shortly before 5 p.m. New York time, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ gained 1.2% to $2,291.17, $Solana (SOL.CC)$ inched up by 0.6% to $83.60 and $Ripple (XRP.CC)$improved by 1.1% to $1.39.

Moo-vers

The "Magnificent Seven" stocks followed the Nasdaq Composite's lead Friday and ended mostly higher.

$Apple (AAPL.US)$led the Mag-7 with its aforementioned 3.2% gain, followed by $Tesla (TSLA.US)$(up 2.4%), $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (1.6% better), $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ (1.2% firmer) and $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (which added 0.2%).

Only $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ (down 0.6%) and $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ (0.5% lower) bucked the uptrend.

Beyond the Mag-7, Friday's noteworthy decliners included:

-- $Roblox (RBLX.US)$, which shed 18.3%. The videogame-creation platform fell after cutting full-year and Q2 guidance. That outweighed a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss.

-- Select space-related stocks, which fell as the sector continues to trade up and down on multiple catalysts, such as the expected upcoming SpaceX initial public offering. Friday's decliners included $Rocket Lab (RKLB.US)$ (down 4.5%) and $AST SpaceMobile (ASTS.US)$ (4.1% lower).

-- Certain tech stocks that failed to participate in Friday's rally. For example, $Qualcomm (QCOM.US)$ (down 1.4%) and $Western Digital (WDC.US)$ (0.7% lower) gave back some of the big gains they enjoyed on Thursday.

Conversely, Friday's major percentage gainers included:

-- $SoundHound AI (SOUN.US)$, up 20.1%. The AI-enabled customer-service platform has been rising since hitting a 16-month low on March 30. Some published reports speculate that Friday's hefty gains stemmed from a short squeeze.

-- $Reddit (RDDT.US)$, 13.1% stronger. The social-media giant rallied on Q1 earnings and revenue beats.

-- Select crypto-related stocks, which rose in part on cryptocurrencies' Friday strength. Winners included $Circle (CRCL.US)$ (up 9.7%), $Strategy (MSTR.US)$ (7.1% stronger), $Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR.US)$ (ahead 2.2%), $Coinbase (COIN.US)$ (1.9% firmer) and $Robinhood (HOOD.US)$ (which added 1.1%).

Disclaimer: This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Indexes are unmanaged and cannot be directly invested in. Past performance is no indication of future results. Investing involves risk and the potential to lose principal. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. It is provided without respect to individual investors' financial sophistication, financial situation, investment objectives, investing time horizon, or risk tolerance. You should consider the appropriateness of this information regarding your relevant personal circumstances before making any investment decisions. Past investment performance does not indicate or guarantee future success. Returns will vary, and all investments carry risks, including loss of principal.

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