S&P 500 Rises Over 1%; Hershey Earnings Top Views

U.S. stocks traded higher toward the end of trading, with the S&P 500 gaining more than 1% on Friday.

The Dow traded up 1.27% to 38,712.21 while the NASDAQ rose 2.14% to 16,179.29. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 1.36% to 5,133.12.

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Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares rose by 3.3% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy shares fell by 0.5%.

Top Headline

Hershey Company HSY reported better-than-expected first-quarter FY24 earnings.

The company reported first-quarter FY24 sales growth of 8.9% year-on-year to $3.252 billion, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $3.112 billion. Adjusted EPS of $3.07 beat the analyst consensus of $2.76.

Hershey reaffirmed FY24 net sales growth of about 2% – 3% versus an estimate of $11.47 billion and adjusted EPS of $9.59 against the consensus of $9.57.

Equities Trading UP
                       

• Safe & Green Holdings Corp. SGBX shares shot up 102% to $5.92 after the company announced its SG Echo subsidiary is preparing to deliver its first sustainable modular unit to a prominent quick-service restaurant customer in the Pacific Northwest.
• Shares of Upland Software, Inc.  UPLD got a boost, surging 32% to $2.6650 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.
• Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. TNDM shares were also up, gaining 24% to $45.40 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results.

Equities Trading DOWN

• AEON Biopharma, Inc. AEON shares dropped 53% to $1.5750 after the company announced that the preliminary top-line results from its interim analysis of its Phase 2 trial with ABP-450 did not meet its primary endpoint.
• Shares of Sprout Social, Inc. SPT were down 37% to $30.42 after the company reported worse-than-expected first-quarter revenue results on Thursday.
• Owens & Minor, Inc. OMI was down, falling 21% to $19.45 following first-quarter results

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Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.8% to $78.30 while gold traded up 0.1% at $2,310.00.

Silver traded down 0.4% to $26.71 on Friday, while copper rose 1.6% to $4.5570.

Euro zone

European shares were higher today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 rose 0.46%, Germany's DAX rose 0.59% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.54%. Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.16%, while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.51%.

The unemployment rate in the eurozone came in at a record low level of 6.5% in March. The S&P Global UK services PMI rose to 55 in April from 53.1 a month ago. France's government budget deficit shrank to EUR 52.78 billion in January-March 2024 compared to EUR 54.72 billion in the year-ago period, while France's industrial production declined 0.3% month-over-month in March.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumping 1.48% and S&P BSE Sensex falling 0.98%.

Retail sales in Hong Kong fell 8.6% year-over-year in March versus a 0.5% gain in the prior month..      

Economics

• U.S. employers added 175,000 nonfarm payrolls in April, marking a reduction from the upwardly revised 315,000 reading in March and missing the expected 238,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
• The unemployment rate went from 3.8% to 3.9%, more than the expected 3.8%. Average hourly earnings edged down from 4.1% to 3.9% compared to April 2023, falling more than the expected dip to 4%.
• The S&P Global Services PMI declined to 51.3 in April from 51.7 in March.
• The ISM Services PMI fell to 49.4 in April from 51.4 a month ago.
• The total number of active U.S. oil rigs fell by 7 To 499 rigs this week, Baker Hughes Inc reported

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.