Stocks End Higher, Bouncing Back From a Drop the Day Before

The stock market bounced back on Friday as investors picked up companies that had dropped earlier in the week. Major indexes recovered nearly all their losses from a fall the day before.

Expedia was an exception. The online travel company turned in sales that topped Wall Street’s estimates, driving its stock up $7.46, or 8 percent, to $101.69.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 22.78 points, or 1.1 percent, to finish at 2,108.29. That’s after dropping 1 percent the day before.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 183.54 points, or 1 percent, to 18,024.06, while the Nasdaq composite rose 63.97 points, 1.3 percent, to 5,005.39.

The Nasdaq lost 1.7 percent for the week as investors sold many of the technology companies that have fared well this year. Strong gains for Apple and other tech stocks helped the Nasdaq finally topple a record high last Thursday. So, what changed?

Smith said Apple’s earnings had something to do with it. Apple is big enough that its moves can swing the Nasdaq higher or lower. Last week, investors bought Apple’s stock in anticipation of another blowout earnings report when the tech giant reported results Monday. In the three days afterward, Apple’s stock lost 6 percent.

LinkedIn plunged after the online networking service warned of weaker earnings in the months ahead, a result of the stronger dollar and the company’s pending purchase of Lynda.com. Twitter continued a slump started earlier in the week when the company turned in disappointing sales and cut its revenue outlook. Twitter dropped $1.12, or 3 percent, to $37.84, while LinkedIn lost $46.92, or 19 percent, to $205.21.

Roughly a third of all the companies in the S&P 500 reported first-quarter results this week, and the news was mixed. Falling oil prices and a rising dollar hammered many of them. Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 will say overall earnings inched up 0.6 percent compared with the same period of last year, according to S&P Capital IQ, a provider of financial information. But revenue is expected to drop 1.4 percent.

On Wednesday, the government said that it nearly stopped growing in the first three months of the year. To some investors that’s not such bad news: Weak economic growth could lead the Federal Reserve to postpone its plans to raise a key borrowing rate. Record-low interest rates have helped the stock market soar since the financial crisis.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.4 percent. New Zealand’s benchmark rose 0.1 percent. Most markets in Asia and Europe were closed for the International Workers Day holiday.

In the U.S., government bond prices sank, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note up to 2.12 percent from 2.03 percent the day before.

In commodities trading, gold dropped $7.90 to end at $1,174.50 an ounce, while silver lost 2 cents to $16.14 an ounce. Copper added 4 cents to $2.93 a pound.

Oil fell nearly 1 percent Friday, the first trading day in May, following a gain of more than 20 percent the month before. U.S. oil slid 48 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $59.15 a barrel. Brent crude slipped 32 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $66.46 a barrel.

In other trading:

• Wholesale gasoline was barely changed at $2.045 a gallon.
• Heating oil crept up 0.2 cent to $1.982.
• Natural gas rose 2.5 cents to $2.776 per 1,000 cubic feet.

This article appeared in print on page 10 of the May 4th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.