OPENING CALL
The Nasdaq looked set to rise on Friday as solid tech earnings helped reassure investors who were questioning whether the market could keep its recent rally going.
Strong results from Intel and SAP after Thursday's close looked poised to help reverse some of the session's selloff in software stocks, but investors might be reluctant to make major moves until megacaps Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple report next week.
Those earnings would come after Meta Platforms offered the world a glimpse at what it thinks the future of work looks like: training and supervising AI systems to do what used to be your job-if you still have a job.
Meanwhile, Oracle's debt struggles highlight a major risk for the AI boom, with its $300 billion deal with OpenAI facing financing challenges as banks struggle to syndicate loans for data centers due to exposure limits.
The construction loans for Oracle's data centers are among the largest in project finance, testing bank limits.
Oil prices were rising for a fifth straight day, with front-month Brent crude futures trading above $106 a barrel as investors watched the stalled Middle East peace talks.
In a sign of the deepening standoff, a third U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in waters of the Middle East, giving Trump additional warships to enforce his blockade of Iranian ports and more firepower should he decide to resume strikes on Iran.
Stocks to Watch
Avis Budget Group shares fell premarket after sliding 68% over the last two days.
Boyd Gaming's profit fell and its earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations. The stock declined 4.9% after market close.
Carlisle's earnings were ahead of Wall Street expectations and it backed its full-year outlook. The stock rose 7.2%, in late trade.
Chemed lifted its guidance for adjusted EPS. Shares gained 8.6% after market close.
Comfort Systems USA boosted its quarterly dividend by 14%. Shares rose 6% in late trading.
Nike rose premarket after it said it was cutting its workforce by some 1,400 workers, or about 2%
TSMC. U.S.-traded American depositary receipts tied to TSMC rose premarket after regulators eased a limit on how much funds can invest in a single stock, enabling managers to pile into the chip maker.
Watch For:
University of Michigan Final Consumer Survey for April; Canada Retail Trade for February; Earnings from Procter & Gamble
Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:
-Musk's Chip-Making Vision With Intel Is a Distant Prospect
-An Iranian Ship Tried to Slip Past the Blockade. A U.S. Destroyer Chased It Down.
-Inside the Navy Secretary's Last-Ditch Bid to Save His Job
MARKET WRAPS
Forex:
The dollar rose.
The euro was higher against the dollar, and ING said that the single currency wouldn't necessarily rise if markets increase bets for the ECB to raise interest rates in June.
"The ECB needs to get ahead of inflation expectations to help the euro, not merely match them."
Two-year real interest-rate differentials adjusted for inflation aren't particularly supportive for the euro versus the dollar rate right now,it said.
Sterling was little moved, remaining weaker against the dollar and flat versus the euro, after U.K. retail sales data exceeded expectations.
Bonds:
Treasury yields rose and SocGen said any meaningful selloff in the front end, including two-year Treasurys, was a buying opportunity.
Eurizon said emerging-market debt could continue to outperform developed-market bonds in 2026 in a scenario of a softer dollar and stable or declining Treasury yields.
Local-currency debt offers the strongest upside, combining high real yields with undervalued currencies, such as the Brazilian real, Mexican peso and South African rand.
Energy:
Oil rose, with Brent crude above $105 a barrel.
"Oil trades higher for a fifth day, with no apparent end in sight to the Middle East stalemate," Saxo Bank said.
Metals:
Gold fell as increased energy prices raised fears of inflation and expectations that central banks will keep interest rates elevated for longer.
Gold Chart
Comex gold futures' bearish momentum seemed to be picking up pace again, based on the daily chart, RHB said, adding that the commodity was likely to pull back toward $4,600 to form a consolidation base.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
China's DeepSeek Launches Long-Awaited AI Model
DeepSeek launched preview versions of its long-awaited V4 model, breaking months of silence from one of China's most closely watched AI labs.
V4-Pro's agent ability has significantly improved from previous models, the company said on its official WeChat account on Friday. The model is now the "go-to agentic coding model" internally, with feedback showing that it beats Anthropic's Sonnet 4.5 in user experience and delivering output quality closer to Opus 4.6's non-thought mode, though it still lags behind Opus 4.6's thought mode, the company said.
SAP Shares Climb on Cloud Business Resilience
SAP shares jumped after the German business-software group reported a strong first quarter that showed the resilience of its cloud business, reassuring investors it can weather potential disruption from artificial intelligence and geopolitical tensions that could affect client spending.
The company behind the Concur travel and expense management platform said its current cloud backlog-a closely watched measure of sales that SAP expects over the coming year based on existing contracts-grew 25% at constant currencies, above expectations of around 24%.
Trump on Spirit Airlines: 'I Think We'd Just Buy It'
President Trump said that the U.S. government could take over Spirit Airlines, the ailing budget carrier that has been negotiating this week for a federal bailout.
"We're thinking about doing it, helping them out, meaning bailing them out, or buying it. I think we'd just buy it," Trump said, speaking from the Oval Office Thursday. He said that Spirit's aircraft and assets were good and that the government could sell the company for a profit when the price of oil fell.
Ackman's Pershing Square Inc. to Sell Up to 33.12 Million Shares in IPO
Investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Inc. plans to offer up to 33.12 million shares in its initial public offering, at an expected price of $50 per share.
Pershing Square Inc. is a closed-end investment company managed by Pershing Square Capital Management. The IPO is a component of a single offering which includes Pershing Square USA, Ltd., the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday.
German Business Sentiment Dives to Lowest Since 2020 as War Hits Outlook
German business confidence sank to a near six-year low as firms counted the cost of soaring energy prices driven by the conflict in the Middle East.
The Ifo Institute said Friday that its business-climate index, based on around 9,000 monthly responses from businesses, fell to 84.4 in April from 86.3 in March.
BOE Survey Finds Inflation Expectations Rise, But Wage Outlook Cools
U.K. businesses polled in April expected to raise their prices at a faster rate than they did prior to the conflict in the Middle East, but wage increases were seen slowing, according to a Bank of England survey released Friday.
In a separate release, the BOE's regional agents reported that while businesses are worried by the conflict, "few report significant impacts on their output, activity and intentions yet."
Japan's Central Bank Confronts Two-Way Risk Fueled by War in Middle East
TOKYO-The Bank of Japan is once again in a tough spot, facing a fresh geopolitical challenge that's fueled two-way risks for Japan's economy.
War in the Middle East has complicated the BOJ's interest-rate path. While the central bank remains committed to tightening, uncertainty around the conflict's economic impact has forced policymakers to be even more cautious than usual in ensuring that a rate hike won't derail Japan's fragile domestic recovery.
U.S. Seeks to Reset Ties With Reclusive but Strategically Vital African State
The Trump administration is exploring ways to reset ties with a reclusive and autocratic state controlling prime geopolitical real estate along the Red Sea as Iran threatens to choke off a second vital maritime corridor against the backdrop of war with the U.S.
A senior Trump administration official, Massad Boulos, has told foreign counterparts that the U.S. aims to begin lifting some sanctions on Eritrea, a small African country with more than 700 miles of Red Sea coastline, according to current and former officials familiar with the matter. It is part of an effort by the U.S. administration to restore higher-level diplomatic relations with the country for the first time in decades. Other officials said the plan to normalize ties with Eritrea and lift sanctions on the country is undergoing review and hasn't yet been finalized.
Iran War Complicates Contingency Plans to Defend Taiwan, Some U.S. Officials Say
WASHINGTON-The U.S. has burned through so many munitions in Iran that some administration officials increasingly assess that America couldn't fully execute contingency plans to defend Taiwan from a Chinese invasion if it occurred in the near term, U.S. officials said.
The U.S. has fired more than 1,000 long-range Tomahawk missiles since the war with Iran began on Feb. 28, as well as 1,500 to 2,000 critical air-defense missiles, including Thaad, Patriot and Standard Missile interceptors, according to U.S. officials who declined to give exact figures.
Trump Administration Reclassifies Marijuana as Less Dangerous Drug
WASHINGTON-The Trump administration is reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a significant policy shift that could make it easier to buy and sell pot and reward investors in the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2026 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)
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