Closing Recap
Friday, April 24, 2026
Index | Up/Down | % | Last |
DJ Industrials | -81.58 | 0.17% | 49,228 |
S&P 500 | 56.52 | 0.80% | 7,164 |
Nasdaq | 398.09 | 1.63% | 24,836 |
Russell 2000 | 11.89 | 0.43% | 2,786 |
New all-time highs again in what has been a recurring theme of late, as Technology (XLK +2.7% today) continues to do all the heavy lifting, with the Nasdaq, S&P 500, Semiconductor index (SOX) hitting record highs. At the same time, oil prices eased Friday (but up on week) on reports President Trump is sending Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan for Iran talks to meet Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi. Araghchi was expected in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the U.S. That gave markets some relief at the end of a week, while the U.S. maintains its naval blockade of Iranian ports while Iran seized ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. There was also news that the Justice Department's announced it would close its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, opening the door to Kevin Warsh’s nomination as the next Fed Chair.
Fireworks could be in store next week as over 200 S&P 500 companies (about 42% of the index) are expected to report earnings during the week of April 27–May 1, 2026, with five of the seven Mag 7 names out (AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT). Meanwhile, the Nasdaq surged over 1.5% Friday, within 150 points of 25,000 for the first time as Intel (INTC) spiked over 20%, boosting semis across the board after its notable beat and raise quarter as the Phill semi index (SOX) made it another record high and an astounding 18th straight day of gains, up 38% in April and 47% YTD (AMD, QCOM, ARM some of the biggest winners). With one week to go, the Nasdaq is up 15% for April so far. While major averages were higher today, seven of the S&P eleven sectors finished lower.
A very potentially catalyst filled week coming up to close out April, as the week ahead is a central bank heavy, with nine policy decisions spanning the FOMC, BoJ, ECB, BoC, Norges Bank, Riksbank, BCB and Banxico, against a backdrop of still live Middle East risk with peace talks hopefully this weekend. In data news, weekly inflows into global equity funds surged to a more than 17-month high in the week through April 22, fueled by optimism over demand for artificial intelligence and robust first-quarter earnings from some major U.S. banks. According to LSEG Lipper data, global equity funds attracted net weekly investments of $48.72 billion, the largest sum for a week since November 13, 2024.
Economic Data
- University of Michigan surveys of consumers sentiment final April 49.8 (consensus 48.0) vs preliminary April 47.6 and final March 53.3; current conditions index final April 52.5 vs prelim April 50.1 and final March 55.8 and expectations index final April 48.1 vs prelim April 46.1 and final March 51.7.
- University of Michigan surveys of consumers 1-year inflation outlook final April 4.7% vs prelim 4.8% and final March 3.8% and 5-year inflation outlook final April 3.5% vs prelim 3.4% and final March 3.2%.
Commodities, Currencies & Treasuries
- U.S. WTI crude oil futures settle at $94.40/bbl, down $1.45, or 1.51%, snapping a 4 day winning streak while Brent crude edged higher $0.26 or 0.25% to settle at $105.33 per barrel as markets await potential peace talks this weekend in Pakistan between the U.S. and Iran. Nymex crude oil gained 14% this week.
- June gold rose +$16.90/oz, or +0.36%, to settle at $4,740.90. The U.S. dollar slipped on Friday pressured by the Justice Department's decision to close its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and by growing optimism that talks to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran could be on the horizon. Still, for the week, the U.S. dollar index (DXY) rose around 0.5%. The 10-year yield rose 6.5bps this week to settle at 4.308%, snapping a streak of three straight weeks of falling yields.
Macro | Up/Down | Last |
WTI Crude | -1.45 | 94.40 |
Brent | 0.26 | 105.33 |
Gold | 16.90 | 4,740.90 |
EUR/USD | 0.0035 | 1.1722 |
JPY/USD | -0.25 | 159.41 |
10-Year Note | -0.015 | 4.308% |
Sector News Breakdown
Retail, Consumer Staples & Restaurants:
- In Consumer Products: PG reported Q1 overall organic volume rose 2%, led by a 5% growth in the beauty segment, while total price rose 1% in the third quarter; warned of a $150M hit to its annual profit from higher input cost due to the Middle East conflict; guided Fy26 EPS to be at the lower end of its target range of flat to 4% while did not provide its fiscal 2027 forecast.
- In Restaurants: SHAK was initiated at Buy and $120 tgt at Guggenheim saying believes 30%-33%+ cash-on-cash returns support its estimate of low teens % unit growth and a margin self-help story under CEO Rob Lynch (alongside near-term SSS upside) should drive positive estimate revisions. BLMN was downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JP Morgan on view that upside will be tough to come by for the restaurant operator.
- In Education Services: COUR shares declined after reported in-line Q1 revenue and EBITDA results as Enterprise growth was better and accelerated to 7%, while Consumer came in slightly lower on greater than expected annual subscription adoption and issued slightly lower Q2 guidance mainly due to the annual sub adoption Dynamics.
Leisure, Gaming & Lodging:
- In Casinos & Gaming: BYD shares slumped after Q1 EPS and revs both fell short of consensus estimates ($1.60/$997.4M vs. est. $1.71/$1.0B); SRAD was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies saying they expect recent scrutiny of SRAD's business practices to continue to weigh in on shares @ - notes short reports have widened the debate on SRAD's revenue quality and customer management and sees risk of examination by regulatory bodies in the future. DKNG was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Moffett (tgt to $27 from $38) noting they are very late to downgrading name, and the firm no longer sees the clouds lifting on these stocks until there is some regulatory clarity on prediction markets.
- Leisure Products: PII was upgraded from Market Perform to Outperform at Raymond James, and downgraded DOOO from Strong Buy to Market Perform on Section 232 tariff Dynamics. The rating changes largely reflect the expected shift in competitive Dynamics within the U.S. powersports industry owing to the recent proclamation by the Trump Administration amending the U.S. Section 232 tariffs on imported Steel, Aluminum, and copper.
- In Autos: STLA said they will focus the majority of its investment on its core Jeep, Ram, Peugeot, and Fiat brands under CEO Antonio Filosa's strategic plan due to be announced in May, five sources said, with a "material increase" to their funding, per Reuters. A Ford (F) spokesperson denied to Bloomberg that it has had any talks with a Chinese car maker over a potential U.S. deal. The denial follows reporting from the Wall Street Journal that Ford had discussed bringing Geely's (GELYF) technology to the U.S
Energy
- In Oil Services: SLB reported a Q1 profit dip as disruptions from the war in Iran hit demand with Q1 EPS of $0.52 was in-line, but down from $0.58 y/y as revenue from Middle East and Asia dropped 10% to $2.69B, during the quarter and North America revenue fell 2% to $2.17B in the reported quarter; BKR shares jumped on its better than expected report as well as oil services posted a strong week.
- In Refiners: Morgan Stanley upgraded PSX to Overweight (from EW) in refiners preview and said key stocks include MPC, DINO noting U.S. cracks have doubled since the start of the ME conflict. Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens, margins unlikely to return to pre-conflict levels anytime soon. Updating for latest forward cracks, 2026 EBITDA for large caps sits ~7% above consensus. CLMT was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs after its shares returned +227% over the past year (vs. XLE +39% and S&P 500 +33%) and says stock now better reflects improving renewable diesel fundamentals, rising D4 RIN prices, and company's balance sheet strength.
Insurance & Services:
- HIG core Q1 EPS miss estimates ($3.09 vs. est $3.39) due to a $70M legacy general liability reserve charge which is more one-time in nature. Cantor noted what is more significant is the weak risk results in group disability, a line that has long over-earned and did not this quarter – and it is economically sensitive.
- KNSL reported a mixed 1Q, with results supported by favorable reserve development and lower catastrophe losses, offset by continued pressure on growth. Operating EPS of $5.11 came in above our expectations ($4.64 FactSet consensus), but growth continues to decelerate. Gross written premiums declined (-0.5% y/y), reflecting a sharp ~28% decline in Commercial Property, and growth ex-property slowed to ~6% (vs. ~10%+ in 4Q25).
- In Lending: ENVA reported Q1 adj EPS of $3.87 beating $3.68 consensus, driven by strong originations ($2.3B), revenue growth, operational scale and improving credit. SLM better results and EPS guidance revised higher reflecting an acceleration in repurchase activity, and as the company leans into incremental loan sales.
REITs:
- GLPI reported 1Q26 AFFO of $1.02, beating consensus by $0.02, and raised its FY26 AFFO midpoint by ~0.4%, primarily reflecting a higher development spend outlook.
- PECO reported a $0.01 beat vs. consensus and management raised FY26 Core FFO guidance by a commensurate amount (+0.4% at the midpoint). The upside appears driven primarily by higher lease term fee income and lower bad-debt expense, while core portfolio trends were largely in line.
Biotech & Pharma:
- ACHC announced the return of David Duckworth as Interim CFO and reiterated guidance for 1Q and 2026.
- ALT upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs as financing meaningfully resolves near-term key debate on the company's ability to execute a Ph3 program evaluating pemvidutide in metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
- ANAB shares jumped late Friday after announced that the Delaware Chancery Court has dismissed Tesaro's anticipatory breach of contract claim against Anaptys.
- BMY, PFE said to make Eliquis® (apixaban) available via Mark Cuban cost plus drug company saying Eliquis available on cost plus drugs from April 27, 2026, at $345 for 30-day supply.
- LLY shares slipped on news its recently launched oral weight loss pill, Foundayo, recorded 3,707 U.S. prescriptions in its second week after launch, up from 1,390 in its first week while rival NVO oral Wegovy pill had 18,410 prescriptions in its second week, compared with 3,071 in its debut week.
- OGN shares rose after the Economic Times reported that Sun Pharma is planning to submit a binding offer of $13 billion to acquire the US-based pharmaceutical company.
Healthcare Services & MedTech movers:
- Hospital operators: HCA Q1 revs $19.11B were in line with expectations as reaffirms 2026 full-year revenue guidance of $76.5B-$80B and expects 2026 diluted EPS between $29.10 and $31.50 while saying anticipates a mostly stable operating environment and volume growth in 2026; said it did not experience a typical volume increase associated with the flu season in Q1 as respiratory-related admissions fell 42%, and respiratory-related emergency room visits were down 32% y/y (THC, CYH, UHS shares were also pressured early).
- Medical Equipment: EW shares rose early after delivered an upside surprise on Q1 sales and EPS of 4% and 7%, respectively in another quarter of double-digit growth (+12.7% Y/y ex FX) driven by TAVR (up 11% Y/y ex-fx) and TMTT (up 43% Y/y), driven by a shift to proactive disease management in TAVR and ongoing adoption in TMTT.
- Insulin sector: PODD was downgraded from Buy to Neutral at Redburn and cut tgt to $220 from $380 saying a wave of competitive 'hybrid' patch Devices from Tandem, Beta Bionics and MiniMed are expected to reach market as soon as late 2026, offering users longer wear times and higher insulin capacities. While Insulet's Omnipod ecosystem is enhanced by improved connectivity, algorithm enhancements and interoperability, Redburn posits that holding share will become increasingly challenging.
Materials, Metals & Mining
- In Metals & Mining: FCX was downgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley as believes the long-term prospects of the company's Grasberg Block Cave mine in Indonesia remain unchanged, but the slower production ramp-up and temporarily higher costs will weigh on the stock performance for some time.
- In Chemicals: RBC Capital previewed the quarter saying going into the print, RBC remains most favorable on SOLS on 1) growth above Spec Chem peers, 2) Capacity Expansions in Aes/Ballistics/E-Mats, and 3) it expects a continued Re rate to ~16x EBITDA. RBC is also positive and raise on ALB on improving Lithium S/D and expect a positive outlook for FY26 and likes CTVA and raise its PT on cost reductions.
- Psychedelic drug stocks active (ATAI, CMPS, DFTX) after news the FDA is taking steps to speed up the development of new treatments for serious mental illness, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week.
Semiconductors
- INTC was the biggest story of the day, with shares jumping around 30% to a record high and biggest one day surge on earnings after posted strong Q126 results and guided Q226 solidly above as upside in the quarter was driven by strong server CPU demand driven by agentic Ai with DCAI growing 22% Y/y, while price increases and improving 18A yields resulted in almost a 500 bp improvement in GM to 41%; guidance well above ests.
- INTC strength helped push the Philadelphia semiconductor index (SOX) to a new all-time high, and an astounding 18th consecutive day in positive territory.
- AMD was upgraded from Neutral to Buy at Davidson and raise tgt to $375 from $220 based on a structural increase in CPU demand on top of much improved visibility into AMD's role in the great data center buildout; believes that given the Magnitude of Intel's beat, there is meaningful upside to AMD's estimates.
- MXL shares jumped on results and guidance while Needham upgraded to Buy from Hold with $60 tgt saying the company’s business has reached an inflection point following the results/ guidance. Infrastructure has surpassed broadband as MaxLinear's largest revenue contributor, and this should drive multiple expansion.
- TSM shares jumped along with strength in INTC results, but also as Taiwan regulators eased the limit on how much funds can invest in a single stock, allowing fund managers to pile in the world's largest contract chip maker.
- Memory and HDD stocks (SNDK, MU, WDC, STX) and optical stocks (AAOI, LITE, COHR) with another surge as upside momentum continues in two of the most popular sectors to start the year (and adding t0 2025 gains).
- GOOGL will invest up to an additional $40 billion in Anthropic and Alphabet will also provide Anthropic with at least 5 GW of computing power, per Bloomberg.
- A report in The Information said AI startups are struggling to access NVDA GPUs as MSFT and other cloud providers reserve more capacity for internal teams and larger AI customers. The crunch is driving months-long wait times, higher prices, and longer commitments with Azure customers reportedly expecting GPU delays through the end of 2026. https://tinyurl.com/unzuh7r2
- Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a preview of a highly awaited new model adapted for Huawei chip technology. The Pro version of the new model outperforms other open-source models in world-knowledge benchmarks, trailing only Google's closed-source Gemini-Pro-3.1, DeepSeek said. The close collaboration with Huawei on the new model, the V4, contrasts with DeepSeek's past reliance on Nvidia's chips.
Hardware & Software movers:
- Michael Burry disclosed a new position in MSFT, while adding to holdings in ADBE, PYPL and stock market indices operator MSCI Inc. He also signaled a bearish view on chipmakers, betting the AI-fueled rally in semiconductor stocks will cool by early 2027. Burry bought GME stock for a second consecutive day, after a reportedly $6.4 million purchase on Wednesday. https://tinyurl.com/3r2vsujk
- In Satellite: Raymond James downgraded IRDM to Market Perform (from Outperform), while reiterating Outperform rating on VSAT and raising price target to $74 (from $50) saying both stocks have been strong outperformers in recent months, with IRDM up ~136% YTD and VSAT up ~82% (and VSAT seeing an >9x return since the 11/2024 lows), believe partly driven by speculation around spectrum monetization opportunities, with AMZN’s recent purchase of GSAT the latest catalyst.
- In Software: SAP beat analysts' targets for Q1 profit and stood by its 2026 cloud revenue outlook. SAP expects revenue growth to accelerate next year, assuming that the conflict in the Middle East de-escalates; APPF Q1 results beat on the top and bottom line due to solid execution. A notable bounce for software names after tumbling Thursday post NOW results.
- Video game software: B Riley noted Circana reported retail figures for the U.S. video game industry as sales increased +12% (Y/Y), led by new game launches, non-mobile subscriptions, and Nintendo's Switch 2. YTD the market is +5% (Y/Y), but Briley maintains its original CY26 market forecast for +3%. Read-throughs for TTWO and RBLX are generally positive, more mixed in accessories (lackluster albeit gradually improving sales trends), where Briley favors TBCH over CRSR.
- In Cable & Telecom; the day after CMCSA shares jumped on results (downgraded today at Deutsche bank on limited upside), CHTR reported lower Q1 revenue as it lost subscribers in both its internet and video businesses; revs fell -1% y/y to $13.6B vs. est. $13.55B; Q1 Internet subscribers declined by 120,000, while video subscribers fell by 60,000. While mobile subscribers increased by 368,000.
- In Data Center/AI Infrastructure: HUT price tgt raised to $90 from $55 at BITG saying Hut's colocation contract in Louisiana with Fluidstack which is backstopped by GOOGL remains the highwater mark for HPC colocation deals signed by companies transitioning their power infrastructure to HPC/AI and away from crypto mining.