The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record highs on Friday, boosted by gains in Nvidia, Sandisk and other AI-related stocks, while a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report pointed to labour market resilience. The TSX also ended higher, even as Canada released a disappointing jobs report simultaneously.
Nvidia climbed 1.8%, while memory and storage sellers Micron Technology and Sandisk soared more than 15% each, lifted by strong demand from the rapid buildout of AI data centers.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index jumped, bringing its gain so far in the second quarter to 55%.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have surged to record highs this week as investors focused on strong financial reports from U.S. companies, setting aside concerns that high oil prices related to the Middle East conflict are fueling inflation.
First-quarter S&P 500 earnings are on track to climb almost 29% year-over-year, with much of that growth fueled by Wall Street’s AI-related heavyweights, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.
“This is an economy that seems hard to wreck,” said Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory Services in Austin, Texas. “It’s the productivity story, the spending, the consumer wealth effect and the earnings.”
Data showed U.S. employment increased more than expected in April and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged for some time.
Traders expect the central bank will hold interest rates steady in the 3.50% to 3.75% range until the end of the year.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.84% to end the session at 7,398.93 points. The Nasdaq gained 1.71% to 26,247.08 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02% to 49,609.16 points.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index ended up 221.14 points, or 0.7%, at 34,077.76, marking its highest closing level since April 20. For the week, the index was up 0.6%, after two straight weekly declines.
Canada’s unemployment rate rose to a six-month high in April to 6.9% as the economy lost a net 17,700 jobs, indicating continued weakness in a labour market that has struggled in the face of U.S. tariffs.
Canada’s 2-year yield fell 7.4 basis points to 2.860%, extending its pullback from a six-week high of 3.077% on Monday. Investors are now pricing in 38 basis points of tightening from the BoC by December, down from 44 basis points before the jobs data.
The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, rose 3.3% as the price of gold increased. Another bright spot was the consumer discretionary sector. It added 1.1%, with shares of Aritzia up 4.5% after the clothing retailer beat earnings estimates.
Enbridge reported first-quarter adjusted profit that surpassed analysts’ expectations. Still, the pipeline operator’s shares were down 0.5%, which helped cap gains for the energy sector.
U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.6% higher at US$95.42 a barrel. The United States said it expected an Iranian response as soon as Friday to its latest proposal to end the war in the Gulf, even as U.S. and Iranian forces traded fire and the United Arab Emirates came under renewed attack.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 technology index jumped 2.7%, while the utilities sector index fell 0.9%.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched their sixth straight weekly gains, the longest such winning streak since October 2024. The Dow has logged two consecutive weekly advances.
The S&P 500 has now gained 8% in 2026, while the Nasdaq has rallied 13%.
The earnings optimism helped investors look past fresh attacks between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf.
Of the 440 S&P 500 companies that have reported first-quarter results so far, 83% have topped analysts’ earnings estimates, according to LSEG. That compares with a long-term average of about 67%.
However, there have been some earnings disappointments.
Cloudflare plunged 24% after the cloud services company said it would cut about 20% of its workforce and forecast second-quarter revenue slightly below Wall Street expectations.
Trade Desk fell 1.8% after the ad-tech firm forecast second-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.
CoreWeave dropped11.4% after the cloud infrastructure technology company raised the lower end of its annual capital expenditure forecast, citing a rise in component costs.
Online travel platform Expedia declined 9% after it flagged that the conflict in the Middle East was hurting demand.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.4-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 28 new highs and 30 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 134 new highs and 119 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 17.2 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 17.6 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reuters, Globe staff