By the end of trading on Friday, U.S. stocks had made gains, with the Dow Jones surging by over 300 points.
The Dow Jones increased by 0.99% to reach 33,089.44 while the NASDAQ rose 2.11% to 12,965.91. The S&P 500 similarly rose, gaining 1.29% to 4,204.71.
Consumer discretionary shares rose by 3% on Friday with top gainers in the sector including GigaCloud Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:GCT), up by 17%, and PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD), up by 19%. However, in trading, utilities shares fell by 0.7%.
Top Headline
Hibbett, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIBB) reported results for its first quarter that were worse than expected.
Hibbett reported first-quarter FY23 sales growth of 7.4% year-on-year to $455.50 million, missing its consensus of $460.40 million. EPS of $2.74 also missed its analyst consensus of $3.04.
The company hopes that sales will be the same or increase by up to around 2.0% in dollars. Previously, the company had expected sales to rise mid-single digits.
- Onfolio Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:ONFO) shares rose by 36% to $1.59 after the company announced it had completed the development of a generative AI search tool.
- Shares of MediaAlpha, Inc. (NYSE:MAX) got a boost, rising by 25% to $9.49 after White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. and WM Hinson commenced a tender offer for up to five million shares of MediaAlpha stock.
- Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares were also up, gaining 29% to $63.86 after the company reported strong Q1 results and said it predicts that revenue relating to artificial intelligence will at least double in 2024.
- PagSeguro Digital Ltd.’s (NYSE:PAGS) shares dropped 13% to $10.51 after the company reported Q1 financial results.
- Shares of Tilray Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLRY) dropped 21% to $1.8550 after the company announced pricing of a registered offering of $150 million of unsecured convertible senior notes.
- Canaan Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CAN) shares fell by 20% to $2.0601 after the company reported Q1 results that were worse than expected.
Commodities
In commodity news, the price of oil increased by 0.8% to $72.37, while gold traded up 0.1% at $1,944.40.
Silver traded up 2% to $23.36 on Friday, while copper rose 2.3% to $3.6705.
Euro Zone
European shares closed higher on Friday with the Eurozone’s STOXX 600 gaining 1.15%. London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.74%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 Index rose 0.82%. The German DAX increased by 1.20%, French CAC 40 rose by 1.24%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB Index rose by 1.16%.
In May, consumer confidence in Italy fell to 105.1 from 105.5 in April, while the manufacturing confidence index dropped to 101.4 in May from a revised read of 102.8. The consumer confidence indicator in France remained unchanged at 83 in May. Additionally, retail sales volumes in the UK increased by 0.5% from a month ago in April.
Asia Pacific Markets
Asian markets closed higher on Friday with Japan’s Nikkei 225 up 0.37% and China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising by 0.35%. India’s S&P BSE Sensex rose 1%.
In Japan, the index of leading economic indicators dropped to 97.7 in March from a final reading of 98.2 a month ago, while the index of coincident economic indicators rose to 98.8 in March from 98.7 in the previous month. Retail sales in Australia were at AUD 35.3 billion for April, the same as the previous month.
- The U.S. trade deficit in goods increased to $96.8 billion in April from a revised $84.6 billion in the previous month.
- Personal spending in the U.S. rose by 0.8% MoM in April, while personal income increased by 0.4%.
- In the U.S., the personal consumption expenditure price index increased by 0.4% MoM in April, compared to a 0.1% growth in March.
- Wholesale inventories in the U.S. dropped 0.2% MoM in April versus a 0.3% decline in March.
- Baker Hughes Inc. reported that the total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by five to 570 rigs this week.
COVID-19 Update
The U.S. continues to have the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths in the world, reporting a total of 107,081,650 cases with roughly 1,164,930 deaths. India has confirmed a total of at least 44,988,420 cases and 531,850 deaths. France reported over 40,070,560 COVID-19 cases with 167,200 deaths. Worldwide, there were a total of at least 689,274,730 cases of COVID-19 with more than 6,882,700 deaths.