US markets settle higher on Friday

29 Apr 2023 Evaluate

Magnifying previous session's gains, the US markets settled higher on Friday even though struggled for direction in early trade. Nasdaq reached at a seven-month closing high, while the Dow and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over two months. Sentiments on the Wall Street got some support after the release of a Commerce Department report that included readings on consumer price inflation that are said to be preferred by the Fed. The report said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 4.2 percent in March from a revised 5.1 percent in February. Street had expected the rate of growth to slow to 4.6 percent from the 5.0 percent originally reported for the previous month. The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, also slipped to 4.6 percent in March from a revised 4.7 percent in February. Street had expected the rate of growth to slow to 4.5 percent from the 4.6 percent originally reported for the previous month.

However, Amazon (AMZN) tumbled by 4.0 percent, as the company's better than expected first quarter earnings and revenue were overshadowed by concerns about slowing growth for its Amazon Web Services cloud computing platform. Shares of Snap (SNAP) also moved sharply lower after the Snapchat parent reported first quarter revenue that fell short of expectations. On the other hand, shares of Intel (INTC) surged after the semiconductor giant reported a narrower than expected adjusted first quarter loss. Sectorally, airline stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 5.0 percent. Oil stocks also saw considerable strength among a sharp price by the price of crude oil, driving the NYSE Arca Oil Index up by 1.8 percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 272 points or 0.80 percent to 34,098.16, Nasdaq advanced 84.35 points or 0.69 percent to 12,226.58 and S&P 500 was up by 34.13 points or 0.83 percent to 4,169.48.

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