Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 24.Brendan McDermid/Reuters
U.S. and Canadian stocks closed higher on Thursday, extending their rally with a solid boost from technology shares as investors parsed a mixed bag of corporate earnings and watched for signs of progress in the U.S.-China tariff stand-off. The TSX came within a whisker of erasing its decline since the start of the year.
All three major U.S. stock indexes posted sharp gains, with the “magnificent seven” group of artificial intelligence-related megacaps, boosted by AI-powered software firm ServiceNow’s better-than-expected quarterly results, giving the Nasdaq the edge.
Beijing called for cancellation of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods, following comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaling the White House could be willing to de-escalate trade tensions that have whipsawed markets for weeks.
Easing tariff rhetoric is “part of the reason why you’re seeing the chips lead because they’ve been kind of in the bull’s eye in (the trade dispute) between China and the U.S.,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor & market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois. “So any cooling of tariff talks between the two countries bolsters the technology sector as a whole.”
“There’s still a ton of questions around tariffs right now that we really don’t have answers to,” Nolte added. “So a lot of us are just kind of throwing darts in the dark.”
As first-quarter earnings season hits full stride, the extent to which trade war uncertainties have affected business and consumer sentiment is making itself known.
Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Chipotle Mexican Grill and American Airlines all cut or withdrew forecasts due to elevated uncertainty among consumers.
Shares for Procter & Gamble slid by 3.7% and PepsiCo tumbled 4.9%.
Not all guidance was downbeat.
ServiceNow’s profit was better than analysts expected due to resilient demand for AI-powered software. Its shares jumped 15.5%.
Hasbro’s results beat expectations, helped by the strength of its gaming segment, sending the toymaker’s shares up 14.6%.
Alphabet shares rose in extended trading after the Google parent beat quarterly revenue estimates.
Of the 157 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far up to Thursday’s close, 74% have beaten expectations, and analysts currently believe aggregate S&P 500 earnings growth of 8.9% year-on-year, up from 8.0% as of April 1, according to LSEG.
On the U.S. data front, stronger-than-expected new orders for durable goods and rangebound jobless claims painted a picture of economic resilience.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 486.83 points, or 1.23%, to 40,093.40, the S&P 500 gained 108.91 points, or 2.03%, to 5,484.77 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 457.99 points, or 2.74%, to 17,166.04.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 254.85 points, or 1%, at 24,727.53, its highest closing level since April 2. At the end of 2024, it was at 24,727.94.
Technology was also a leading sector in Toronto, gaining 2.5%. The heavy weighted materials, financials and energy sectors all rose at least 1%. Aiding the advance was a decline in bond yields in both Canada and the U.S.; the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell 7 basis points to 4.3%.
Among Canadian stocks, Teck Resources Ltd reported first-quarter results that beat expectations due to higher commodity prices and copper sales volumes. Shares of the mining company were up 3.7%.
Cargojet Inc was a standout. Its shares advanced 15.3% after the company beat earnings estimates.
In contrast, shares of Aecon Group Inc fell 9.8% after the construction company reported first-quarter results.
Of the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 all but consumer staples advanced, with technology shares enjoying the largest percentage gains, up 3.5%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.84-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 50 new highs and 30 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 3,401 stocks rose and 1,005 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.38-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 40 new highs and 51 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 14.95 billion shares, compared with the 19.15 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Reuters, Globe staff