The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Friday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions.
Traders may take a step back to digest the recent rally by the markets, which has seen the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 surge back to their best closing levels since the day President Donald Trump initially announced his “reciprocal tariff” plan.
Conflicting news on the trade front may also keep some traders on the sidelines, as Trump has refuted China’s claims that the two countries have not held any trade negotiations.
“They had a meeting this morning,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “It doesn’t matter who ‘they’ is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we’ve been meeting with China.”
Trump’s comments come as a report from Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter said China’s government is considering suspending its 125 percent tariff on some U.S. imports due to the economic costs of the tit-for-tat trade war on certain industries.
Among individual stocks, shares of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) are plunging by 7.4 percent in pre-market trading after the semiconductor giant reported better than expected first quarter results but provided disappointing guidance for the current quarter.
Biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) may also come under pressure after reporting first quarter earnings that exceeded estimates but weaker than expected revenues.
On the other hand, shares of Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are jumping by 3.2 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported first quarter results that exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines.
Adding to the strong gains posted in the two previous sessions, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday. The Nasdaq showed a particularly strong move to the upside, reflecting strength among tech stocks.
The major averages ended the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq spiked 457.99 points or 2.7 percent to 17,166.04, the S&P 500 surged 108.91 points 2.0 percent at 5,484.77 and the Dow jumped 486.83 points or 1.2 percent to 40,093.40.
With the strong upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the session at their best closing levels since the day President Donald Trump initially announced his “reciprocal tariff” plan.
Semiconductor stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, resulting in a 5.6 percent spike by Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) and Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) helped lead the sector higher after reporting better than expected quarterly earnings.
Industry giant Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) also posted a strong gain ahead of the release of its first quarter results after the close of today’s trading.
Software and computer hardware stocks also saw significant strength, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index and the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 4.6 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.
Outside of the tech sector, oil service stocks showed a strong move to the upside amid a modest rebound by the price of crude oil, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.7 percent.
Financial, steel and retail stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
The continued strength on Wall Street came despite comments from a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson that partly offset optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal.
Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yadong told reporters there are currently “absolutely no negotiations on the economy and trade between China and the U.S,” according to a CNBC translation.
He added that “all sayings” regarding progress on bilateral talks should be dismissed and said the U.S. should cancel all “unilateral” tariffs on China if it really wants to resolve the problem.
Meanwhile, later in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. may reach “an agreement on understanding” on trade with South Korea “as soon as next week.”
“We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of South Korea today. We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week,” Bessent said.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged modestly higher in the week ended April 19th.
The report said initial jobless claims crept up to 222,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 216,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 221,000 from the 215,000 originally reported for the previous week.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged much more than expected in the month of March amid a spike by orders for transportation equipment.
Traders May Take A Breather Following Three-Day Surge
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