US stocks were on track for a record closing high, buoyed by semiconductor stocks, strong monthly payrolls figures and a US-Iran ceasefire that appeared intact even with overnight clashes near the Strait of Hormuz.
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.5% at 9:38 a.m. in New York, with seven of 11 sectors in the green, led by tech. The Nasdaq 100 Index added 1%. Heavyweight chip stocks Nvidia Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. rose while Microchip Technology Inc. gained 0.52% after earnings beat estimates. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, known as the SOX, rose 3.4%.
Oil was little changed, with the US saying it expects an imminent response from Iran on its proposal to end the war. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down about 0.3% to around $95 a barrel. Meanwhile, US employers added to payrolls in April, marking the first back-to-back advance in nearly a year.
“Risk appetite appears to be increasing on that solid US jobs report,” said RSM Chief Economist Joseph Brusuelas.
US equities rebounded from Thursday’s dip “as the Iran ceasefire looks to be holding despite the exchange of fire on Thursday,” Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli wrote in a note. A federal trade court finding President Donald Trump’s 10% global tariffs unlawful is also positive, he said.
Equities investors may be looking through the Iran conflict, according to Goldman Sachs strategist Christian Mueller-Glissmann.
“A lot of the clients we speak to do very little in terms of taking a view on that conflict,” he told Bloomberg Television. He also highlighted strong earnings.
In earnings news, payments company Block Inc. climbed 5.7% on a rosier outlook after AI-driven job cuts. Akamai Technologies Inc. soared 18% as it raised the outlook for its Cloud Infrastructure Services business after announcing a deal with a leading frontier AI-model provider. AI data-center operator CoreWeave Inc. fell 9.5% after a disappointing forecast sparked concerns about slowing growth.
Overall earnings trends and better investor sentiment prompted RBC to raise its rolling 12-month-forward price target for the S&P 500 to 7,900 from 7,750. Strategist Lori Calvasina sees “more upside potential as stocks climb the proverbial wall of worry.”
Meantime, on the consumer front, Bank of America US economist Aditya Bhave said card-spending growth per household “slowed sharply across most categories (besides gas) and across income cohorts” last week. “Unlike other blips this year, this one can‘t be easily explained by weather disruptions or shifting holidays.,” he wrote.
Sectors in Focus
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Crypto-exposed stocks, with exchange Coinbase Global Inc. slipping 3.7% after reporting tumbling revenue as falling token prices drained trading activity.
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Housing-linked companies as 10-year Treasuries yields, which are correlated with mortgages, fell below 4.4%. Mortgage-finance firm Rocket Cos. rose 8.5% after earnings topped estimates. Affordability is in the spotlight as well. TD Cowen’s Jaret Seiberg writes that he expects Democrats will “get more aggressive when it comes to housing” if they win the House and/or the Senate in the midterm elections. Trump and a Democratic Congress could agree on spending on housing as that would address “populist concerns in both parties.”
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