Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 30, 2026.
NYSE
U.S. stock futures rose on Thursday night after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose to new intraday and closing highs to round out trading for the month of April.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed around 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 85 points, or 0.2%.
Shares of Apple climbed 3% in Thursday’s extended trading hours. The consumer tech giant posted a fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue beat, but iPhone revenue fell short of estimates for the second time in three quarters.
The blue-chip Dow rose 790.33 points, or 1.62%, during Thursday’s regular session. The broad-based S&P 500 popped 1.02%, closing above the 7,200 threshold for the first time ever, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.89%. Both indexes notched new record closing highs and their strongest monthly performances since 2020, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq respectively adding 10.4% and 15.3% on the month. The Dow rose 7.1% in April, marking its strongest monthly performance since November 2024.
A strong first-quarter earnings season, as well as hopes for easing tensions in the Middle East, have ultimately boosted stocks higher on the year. Even though the major averages took a dip on the commencement of the U.S. war with Iran, all three indexes are now trading well above where they began 2026.
Venu Krishna, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays, pointed to a strong economic growth outlook and an intact tech story as catalysts to keep this strong market rally going from here.
“The story is good, so we remain optimistic. The last thing I would say is that the pace of this recovery has been so strong in such a short period of time, it does leave some potential for a little bit of a breather in the short term,” he said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Thursday afternoon. “But…I think the trajectory, the direction, is pretty strong.”
Chevron, Exxon Mobil, AutoNation, Colgate-Palmolive, Estee Lauder, Lazard, Moderna and CBOE Global Markets are some of the stocks reporting earnings before Friday’s opening bell. Traders will also look for the release of manufacturing data from April.