Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2025.
NYSE
S&P 500 futures rose Thursday evening as investors cheered China’s announcement that it is evaluating the possibility of starting trade negotiations with the U.S.
Futures tied to the broad-based index added 0.68%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 0.82% or 337 points while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.32%.
Wall Street also digested earnings reports from two “Magnificent Seven” members and braced for a big jobs report.
In extended trading, Apple slid 4% after posting fiscal second-quarter revenue from its Services division that fell short against Wall Street’s estimates. The iPhone maker also said it expects to add $900 million in costs in the current quarter due to tariffs. Amazon dropped 2% after issuing light guidance and highlighting “tariffs and trade policies” as factors.
The moves come after the major averages rose to kick off May, with the tech sector catching a tailwind after results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft helped revive the artificial intelligence trade. The 30-stock Dow added 0.2%, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.6%. Both indexes posted eight-day win streaks. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.5% and wiped out its losses since April 2, the day of President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs announcement.
Nearly two-thirds of the S&P 500 constituents have announced their results, with 76% posting earnings that have surpassed estimates, according to data from FactSet.
“I think obviously you’ve had some dialing back of the tariff intensity, but Q1 earnings have been at the huge driver behind the rally we’ve seen in the S&P 500,” Adam Crisafulli, Vital Knowledge founder, said Thursday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.”
Another catalyst awaits traders on Friday morning in the form of April’s jobs report as investors look for further clues on the state of the U.S. economy. Economists polled by Dow Jones anticipate payrolls grew by 133,000 last month, down sharply from the 228,000 added in March. They also expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.2%.
The payrolls report is the latest in a blast of economic data this week, with a gross domestic product reading that showed the economy contracted 0.3% at an annualized pace in the first quarter. Private payrolls data from ADP also came in weak, and the latest weekly jobless claims ballooned to 241,000, far greater than expected.
Thus far, all three major averages are on pace for their second winning week in a row. The S&P 500 is on pace to rise 1.4% this week, while the Dow is on track for a 1.6% advance. The Nasdaq is up 1.9% week to date.
Correction: An earlier version misstated which tech companies reported on Thursday.