Wall Street stocks climbed on Friday, capping a second straight week of gains as robust April jobs data and renewed prospects for U.S.-China trade negotiations lifted investor sentiment.
The U.S. economy added 177,000 jobs in April, surpassing expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%. The figures helped soothe worries of an economic slowdown, which had been fueled by a recent government report showing a contraction in gross domestic product for the first time in three years. The decline was attributed in part to a surge in imports driven by tariff-related uncertainty.
Investor mood was further buoyed by news that Beijing is reviewing an offer from Washington to restart trade talks. The development follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s early April announcement of sweeping 145% tariffs on Chinese imports. While the tariffs rattled markets, a partial rollback appears to have reassured investors, helping U.S. indexes rebound from the sharp slump that followed the announcement on April 2.
The S&P 500 has now recovered those losses and is up 0.3% since April 2. On Friday, it recorded its ninth consecutive daily gain — matching a winning streak last seen in 2004. The Dow Jones Industrial Average achieved its own nine-session streak, the longest since December 2023.
For the day, the S&P 500 rose 82.54 points, or 1.47%, to close at 5,686.68. The Dow gained 564.47 points, or 1.39%, ending at 41,317.43. The Nasdaq Composite added 266.99 points, or 1.51%, to finish at 17,977.73. For the week, the S&P 500 rose 2.9%, the Dow advanced 3%, and the Nasdaq climbed 3.43%.
In the corporate sector, Apple Inc. shares fell nearly 4% after the company reduced its share buyback program by $10 billion. CEO Tim Cook also warned that tariffs could raise quarterly costs by approximately $900 million.
Among the so-called “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks, Meta Platforms surged 4.3%, Nvidia rose 2.6%, and Amazon edged down 0.1%.
Energy giants Chevron and ExxonMobil saw modest gains after releasing quarterly earnings, rising 1.6% and 0.4% respectively.
Block Inc. plunged 20% after it cut its 2025 profit forecast and missed quarterly earnings expectations. Take-Two Interactive also dropped nearly 7% following its announcement that the release of “Grand Theft Auto VI” will be delayed until May 2026.
Market breadth was solid, with advancing stocks outnumbering decliners by nearly four to one on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 logged 12 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows. The Nasdaq recorded 51 new highs and 38 new lows.
Trading volume was lighter than usual, with roughly 15.99 billion shares traded across U.S. exchanges, compared with the 20-day average of 19.3 billion.
