The Dow and S&P 500 ended higher on Friday and the Dow registered its biggest daily percentage gain since November 2023 as month-end repositioning drove a late sharp rally, with all three major indexes posting strong gains for May.
Market Snapshot
The S&P 500 gained 42.03 points, or 0.80%, to end at 5,277.51, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.06 points, or 0.01%, to 16,735.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 574.84 points, or 1.51%, to 38,686.32.
Market Movers
Dell Technologies reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue, boosted by both strong demand for servers powered by artificial intelligence and improvement in the commercial personal-computers business. The stock, however, sank 18% after the company discussed emerging pressure on margins.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the operator of Donald Trump’s social-media company Truth Social, dropped 5.3% after the former U.S. president was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a hush-money trial.
MongoDB fell 24% after the data service provider issued disappointing guidance for the second quarter and fiscal year. CEO Dev Ittycheria said the company was off to a slower-than-expected start to the year for both new customer wins and for consumption growth, a development he said will have “downstream impact for the remainder of fiscal 2025.”
First-quarter revenue at Ambarella fell 12% from a year earlier, but the stock jumped 21% after CEO Fermi Wang said the chip company was “seeing early signs for the proliferation of AI inferencing at the network edge, and the breadth of our customer engagements is consistent with this, which should create a foundation of multiple applications for revenue growth.”
SentinelOne declined 13% after the cybersecurity company reduced its revenue outlook for the fiscal year to a range of $808 million to $815 million, from previous guidance of $812 million to $818 million.
Cybersecurity company Zscaler reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue of $553.2 million, rising from $482.3 million a year earlier, and calculated billings that jumped 30% to $628 million, beating calls for $584 million. Adjusted earnings in the period were 88 cents a share—better than the 66 cents expected by analysts. Zscaler’s forecast for the fourth quarter also topped estimates. Shares gained 8.5%.
Marvell Technology posted first-quarter revenue of $1.16 billion, down 12% from a year earlier, but higher than estimates of $1.15 billion. Revenue at the chip maker was helped by stronger-than-expected AI demand. Adjusted earnings in the period were 24 cents a share, matching Wall Street expectations. Marvell expects revenue in the current second quarter of $1.25 billion, plus or minus 5%. Analysts had been anticipating $1.22 billion. But the stock closed down10% as other parts of Marvell’s business were pressured.
Caesars Entertainment rose nearly 12% after Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Carl Icahn has built a sizable position in the casino company.
Gap soared 29% after first-quarter earnings at the retailer of 41 cents a share smashed estimates of 14 cents, revenue rose 3% to $3.4 billion, and same-store sales jumped 3%, a notable improvement from a year-earlier decline of 4% and better than analysts’ projections for an increase of 1.1%. Gap also raised its outlook for the fiscal year ending in February.
Nordstrom reported a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss but shares of the retailer climbed 5% higher. Sales in the period of $3.34 billion rose from $3.18 billion a year earlier and beat estimates of $3.19 billion.
PagerDuty posted mixed first-quarter results, though billings were better than expected. The software company’s chief financial officer, Howard Wilson said that annual recurring revenue in the quarter stabilized at 10%. PagerDuty continues to expect some modest acceleration by that measure in the back half of the fiscal year. The stock finished up 5.7%.
VF Corp., which owns clothing brands The North Face, Vans, and Timberland, rose 7.6% after naming Michelle “Sun” Choe global brands president of Vans. Choe previously served as Lululemon’s chief product officer.
Market News
Fed’s Favored Inflation Gauge Cools, Spending Unexpectedly Drops
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of underlying US inflation moderated in April and consumers dialed back their spending, supporting plans for an eventual reduction in interest rates.
The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index, which strips out the volatile food and energy components, increased 0.2% from the prior month. That marked the smallest advance of the year, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data out Friday.
Fitch Lowers Boeing 2024 Aircraft Delivery, Cash Flow Forecasts
Fitch Ratings lowered its 2024 forecasts for Boeing's aircraft delivery and free cash flow on Friday as the planemaker grapples with investigations and slumping production of its strongest-selling jet.
"The delivery forecasts were affected by the Civil Aviation Administration of China's (CAAC) decision to restrict certain aircraft model deliveries to Chinese customers while it requests additional documentation regarding voice recorder and battery information," Fitch said.