Wall Street Today: S&P 500, Nasdaq Comp Set Fresh Records on Iran Calm and TSLA, AAPL, MRVL Gains

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs for a third straight session Friday as oil plunged more than 10% after Iran stopped blocking the Strait of Hormuz, paving the way for Tesla, Apple, Marvell and other Big Techs to rise.

The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ rose 365.78 points (1.5%) to a 25,468.48 best-ever close, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ gained 84.78 ticks (1.2%) to a 7,126.06 record finish.

Both indexes have ended at record highs for three days in a row, and have also set best-ever intraday levels every day since Wednesday. Additionally, the Nasdaq Comp has risen for 13 straight sessions for the first time since 1992.

Meanwhile, the DJI added 868.71 points (1.8%) to 49,447.43, but that's some 2.1% below the Dow's 50,512.79 all-time high set on Feb. 10.

Macro

The key indexes rose after U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders both announced an end to Tehran's block of the Hormuz Strait, which normally sees some 20% of world petroleum production per day pass on oil tankers.

The Iranian blockade sent oil prices soaring more than 75% in the conflict's early days, creating fears of global inflation, recession and high interest rates – all historically bad things for stocks.

However, $Crude Oil Futures (JUL6) (CLmain.US)$ sank as much as 13.4% to $78.97 a barrel at their New York Mercantile Exchange session low even though the two sides haven't agreed on a permanent peace (or what constitutes the strait being fully open).

Still, the brighter oil picture opened the way for select tech giants to rise Friday as investors re-embraced the artificial-intelligence build-out theme and individual positives for select stocks.

For instance, $Marvell Technology (MRVL.US)$ rose 4.7% after Oppenheimer named the semiconductor firm as a "top pick."

Similarly, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$gained 3% ahead of next week's quarterly earnings and on continued enthusiasm for CEO Elon Musk's report earlier this week that the firm has finalized its AI5 chip's design.

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ likewise added 2.6% to $270.23 after BNP Paribas upgraded the stock to "Outperform" from "Neutral" and raised its price target to $300 from an earlier $260.

Other noteworthy tech gainers heading into the close included $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ (up 3.5%) and $Palantir (PLTR.US)$ (which added 2.5%).

The Iran calm helped non-tech big caps as well. Non-tech Dow components to see noteworthy gains heading into the close included $Sherwin-Williams (SHW.US)$ (up 3.7%), $Home Depot (HD.US)$ (3.6% better) and $Merck & Co (MRK.US)$ (which rose 3.1%).

Adding to the market's enthusiastic mood, major cryptocurrencies mostly rose on the Iran situation and tech stocks' gains.

$Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ added 2.9% to $77,365.99 as of about 5 p.m. New York time, while $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$ gained 3.1% to $2,427.29 and $Ripple (XRP.CC)$improved by 1.5% to $1.48. However, $Solana (SOL.CC)$ bucked the trend and eased 0.8% to $88.98.

Moo-vers

All of the "Magnificent Seven" stocks joined in on Friday's rally and ended the session higher.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$and $Apple (AAPL.US)$led the sector's gains with their previously noted increases of 3% and 2.6%, respectively.

Other Mag-7 winners included $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ (up 1.73%), $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ and $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (both 1.68% better), $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (0.6% firmer) and $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ (which added 0.3%).

Friday's noteworthy gainers beyond the Mag-7 included:

-- $Critical Metals (CRML.US)$, which rose 35.5%. The rare-earth-mining firm rallied on word that it's boosted its stake in a key Greenland mine to 92.5% from a previous 42%.

-- Certain cryptocurrency-related stocks, which rose in part on cryptos' Friday gains. $Strategy (MSTR.US)$ led the way higher, adding 11.8% partly on news that it recently bought another $1 billion of $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$. Other winners included $Robinhood (HOOD.US)$ (up 4.5%) and $Coinbase (COIN.US)$ (3.3% better).

-- Next-generation nuclear-power stocks, which have been rising for days on a White House release of details regarding a national policy to develop space-based nuclear energy. $NuScale Power (SMR.US)$ rose another 10.9% Friday, while $Oklo Inc (OKLO.US)$ gained an additional 4.1%.

-- $Hims & Hers Health (HIMS.US)$, up 6.8%. The online-pharmaceuticals firm has been rallying for several sessions in and around news that the U.S. government will ease regulations on 12 peptides, which HIMS will likely sell. The stock has gained 48.3% over the past week.

Conversely, Friday's major percentage decliners included:

-- $Netflix (NFLX.US)$, which lost 9.7%. The streaming giant fell on poorly received Q2 guidance and word that company co-founder Reed Hastings plans to step down from the board when his term ends. That outweighed news that the firm's Q1 earnings and revenue beat forecasts.

-- $Figma Inc (FIG.US)$, off 6.9%. The design-software firm fell after privately held Anthropic unveiled Claude Design, a rival AI-powered tool.

-- Select oil stocks, which fell on petroleum's lower prices. For example, $Occidental Petroleum (OXY.US)$ shed 5.4%, while $Exxon Mobil (XOM.US)$ lost 3.7%, $Chevron (CVX.US)$ gave back 2.2% and micro-cap $Battalion Oil (BATL.US)$ declined 14.3%.

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.

857K Views