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By Carlo Versano
Director, Politics & Culture
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U.S. stocks closed a volatile week of trading broadly higher after a busy stretch of positive tech earnings helped overcome investor concerns over inflation and economic growth.
The S&P 500 ended Friday up 1 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up more than 2 percent, for its best day in two months. The Dow closed higher by about half a percent as well. All three indexes were up for the week, but still in the red for April.
After days of see-saw trading, stocks were lifted from bumper results out of Microsoft and Alphabet, two of the world's most valuable companies that are also locked in a battle over the future of AI. Microsoft closed higher by 2 percent on Friday, while the Google parent was up 10 percent.
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Intel, meanwhile, was the outlier. The chipmaker that was until recently the biggest in the U.S. fell 9 percent after disappointing earnings, closing at its lowest levels of the year. By comparison, competitor Nvidia was up another 6 percent, for an 82 percent gain this year.
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Intel notwithstanding, the big tech earnings were enough to put worries over sticky inflation and slowing growth by the wayside. Friday's core personal consumption expenditures index, which the Fed uses as its preferred gauge of inflation, showed prices rising by 2.8 percent this year through March, excluding food and energy. That came in slightly higher than estimates, and still above the Fed's 2 percent target. The PCE reading followed a dismal GDP report on Thursday showing the economy expanded by just 1.6 percent in the first quarter.
Wall Street will try to keep the rally going next week, which will again be packed with a slate of big earnings that include reports from two more of the so-called Magnificent Seven: Amazon and Apple.
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Other reports that will be closely watched: Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the pharma giants that have become leaders in the booming obesity drug space with their GLP-1 treatments. Shares of both those companies are up about 25 percent this year.
Earnings highlights to watch next week:
- Monday: Domino's Pizza, Paramount, SoFi Technologies
- Tuesday: Amazon, Eli Lilly, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Starbucks, Stellantis, Mondelez, PayPal, 3M
- Wednesday: Mastercard, Pfizer, CVS, Marriott, DoorDash, Kraft Heinz, Pizza Hut and KFC parent Yum! Brands, eBay
- Thursday: Apple, Novo Nordisk, Shell, Moderna
- Friday: Berkshire Hathaway, AMC
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