Wall Street surges on strong earnings, Apple jumps over 4%, Estee Lauder soars 4.2%

Major US stock indices climbed on Friday, fueled by robust corporate earnings and declining crude oil prices, despite the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

At 09:54 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 148.14 points, or 0.30%, to 49,800.28, the S&P 500 added 40.71 points, or 0.56%, to 7,249.72, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 193.21 points, or 0.78%, to 25,085.52 - fresh records for the Nasdaq and the S&P 500.

At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 180.4 points, or 0.36%, to 49,832.57. The S&P 500 rose 25.5 points, or 0.35%, to 7,234.54, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 85.5 points, or 0.34%, to 24,977.79.

Oil values softened following reports from Iranian state media that Tehran has submitted a fresh peace proposal to Washington via Pakistani mediators.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 0.5% to $109.88, though it’s still up roughly 11% for the week.

More broadly across large companies, the first quarter "earnings growth rate has blown past expectations," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"The market remains resolute in its belief that the Iran War and the blockade will end without creating long-lasting damage to the global economy." O'Hare added.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.39% from 4.40% late on Thursday.

Regarding economic indicators, US manufacturing performance remained stable in April; however, supplier delivery performance worsened as Middle East hostilities impacted transit through the Strait of Hormuz. These logistical bottlenecks drove raw material and input costs to their highest levels in four years.

Meanwhile, US economic growth showed renewed strength during the first quarter. While consumer spending—the primary engine of the economy—saw a slowdown, the personal savings rate also fell. This suggests that American households increasingly relied on their existing reserves to maintain their spending levels despite the broader cooling of consumption.

Key Stock Movers

Apple shares jumped more than 4% as it reported its best results ever for a March quarter. The iPhone sales grew by double digits in just about every country where it does business.

Estee Lauder stock soared 4.2% after the firm reported better earnings than expected.

Colgate-Palmolive shares gained 3.1% after likewise delivering bigger results than expected.

Shares of Exxon Mobil and Chevron were flat despite both companies reported first quarter profitabove estimates.

Software companies rose after Atlassian lifted its annual forecast. The enterprise software maker rallied 27.7%.

Shares of Salesforce and ServiceNow added 3.2% and 1.8%, respectively. Datadog rose 5.8% and Workday gained 2.7%.

Bullion

Gold prices slipped on Friday as inflation fears solidified higher-for-longer interest rate outlooks, with crude oil benchmarks also retreating to trade below $110 a barrel.

At 9:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT), spot gold was down 0.7% at $4,588.32 per ounce. US gold futures for June delivery fell 0.6% to $4,600.00.

"Precious metal traders continue to sell gold after the Fed signalled U.S. interest rates would remain on hold for the near term due to inflation concerns," said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at EverBank.

Among other metals, spot silver prices rose 1.4% to $74.78 per ounce. Platinum was up 0.3% at $1,991.80, and palladium lost 0.1% to $1,522.25.