Close: U.S. stocks close with tech stocks leading gains The S&P index posted its biggest weekly gain since November

In the early morning of the 27th, Beijing time, U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both recording their biggest weekly gains since November. Alphabet and Microsoft's earnings reports show that the AI boom that drove tech stocks continues to grow. U.S. core PCE rose 2.8% year-on-year in March, higher than expected, indicating that inflationary pressures remain elevated.

The Dow rose 153.86 points, or 0.40 percent, to 38,239.66, the Nasdaq added 316.14 points, or 2.03 percent, to 15,927.90 and the S&P 500 added 51.54 points, or 1.02 percent, to 5,099.96.

The Dow rose 0.67% for the week, marking the second consecutive weekly gain. The Nasdaq rose 4.23% and the S&P 500 rose 2.67%, both snapping a two-week losing streak.

Mona Mahajan, senior investment strategist at Edward Jones, said: "U.S. equities had a volatile start to the week, but ended strongly. It's nice that many stocks are rising. Obviously, one of the drivers is the excellent financial reports from the big tech stocks. ”

Shares of Google's parent company, Alphabet, jumped about 10% after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and approved plans to pay its first-ever dividend and buy back $70 billion worth of shares.

Microsoft closed 1.8% higher after beating Wall Street's expectations for its fiscal third quarter.

Google's and Microsoft's earnings reports showed that the artificial intelligence boom that drove tech stocks was continuing, helping to restore sentiment in the U.S. stock market on Friday.

So far, about 38% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results, with nearly 80% beating earnings estimates.

Nearly 80% of S&P 500 companies that have reported results to date have exceeded analysts' expectations, but despite this, the stock price response has been unsatisfactory, with better-than-expected results leading to lower-than-average gains, while lower-than-expected results have been affected more than usual.

More than 50% of S&P 500 companies are yet to report results.

Ahead of the earnings reports of Alphabet and Microsoft, the earnings reports of Meta and Caterpillar on Thursday have investors worried about the outlook for corporate earnings.

In addition, economic data released on Thursday showed a sharp slowdown in economic growth and persistently high inflation: GDP growth of 1.6% in the first quarter fell short of expectations, while the PCE price index rose 3.4%, well above the previous quarter's increase of 1.8%.

Regarding Thursday's economic data, David Donabedian, chief investment officer at CIBC Private Wealth, said, "They were all the worst in their respective areas – GDP growth was lower than expected, inflation was higher than expected. ”

Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, said: "The Fed will be more concerned about above-target inflation in the first quarter than about slowing growth. The Fed is likely to slow the pace of balance sheet reduction at its next few meetings, but it won't start cutting rates until September. ”

On Friday's economic data front, the Fed's preferred core price gauge continued to rise in March and rose more than expected, adding to concerns about stubborn price pressures.

The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), which excludes volatile food and energy, rose 0.3% month-on-month and 2.8% year-on-year, according to data released Friday by the Commerce Department. The overall PCE price indicator rose 0.3% month-on-month and 2.7% year-on-year.

U.S. inflation rose modestly in March, but it is unlikely to change financial markets' expectations that the Fed will not cut interest rates before September.

The Federal Reserve will hold a monetary policy meeting next week, at which the market expects the institution to keep interest rates unchanged.

Financial markets initially expected the Fed to cut interest rates for the first time in March, but then the rate cut was postponed to June and now to September as job market and inflation data continue to rise unexpectedly this year.

Stocks in focus

Google's parent company, Alphabet, posted a two-year revenue growth rate in the first fiscal quarter, and plans to pay its first quarterly dividend and buy back an additional $70 billion worth of shares. The company's total revenue for the fiscal first quarter was $80.539 billion, up 15% year-over-year, or 16% year-over-year excluding the impact of foreign exchange changes, Alphabet's net income for the first quarter was $23.662 billion, up 57% year-over-year, and diluted earnings per share were $1.89, up $1.17 from $1.17 in the year-ago quarter.

Intel's revenue outlook for the fiscal second quarter was lower than expected. Intel's revenue was $12.7 billion, up 9% year-over-year, net loss attributable to $400 million, down 86% from $2.8 billion in the year-ago quarter, and non-GAAP adjusted net income of $0.8 billion, compared to a non-GAAP adjusted net loss of $0.2 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Microsoft's performance exceeded expectations, and AI helped accelerate the growth of cloud revenue. Revenue for the fiscal third quarter was $61.858 billion, up 17% year-over-year, and net profit was $21.939 billion, up 20% year-over-year, and net profit was up 20% year-over-year, excluding the impact of exchange rate changes

Snap's Q1 results and fiscal Q2 guidance both beat expectations.

Mobileye第一财季收入同比下滑。

Unilever's revenue growth in the first quarter exceeded expectations.

Teladoc Health第一财季亏损同比扩大。

TSMC's system-level wafer technology will usher in a major breakthrough.

Vietnam's official statement said on Friday that the Nvidia delegation was visiting three major Vietnamese cities, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, to choose locations for high-tech investments. Nvidia wants to be a partner in developing artificial intelligence in Vietnam, according to executives from the company's AI division.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed Friday that the safety regulator has begun an investigation into whether Tesla's announcement of a recall of more than 2 million vehicles in December to install a new self-driving system was sufficient. The recall investigation for this software fix covers Model Y, X, S, 3, and Cybertruck vehicles with Autopilot manufactured in the U.S. between 2012 and 2024.

Austria's First Savings Bank downgraded AMD to hold.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), Apple's share of smartphone shipments in China fell in the first quarter.

UBS maintained a Buy rating on Amazon and raised its price target to $215 from $198. Amazon will announce its quarterly results next Tuesday (30th). The bank believes that the focus of investors will be broadened to the company's overall franchise revenue and operating income, rather than focusing narrowly on the cloud business AWS, especially as business growth has exited the trough in the second and third quarters of last year.

The market expects Amazon's quarterly revenue to be at the top end of the guidance of $143.5 billion, operating revenue between $13 billion and $13.5 billion, and cloud business growth of 15% to 16%. The bank is also concerned about Amazon's total capital expenditure.

BofA Securities issued a research report that Meta's revenue in the first fiscal quarter increased 27% year-on-year to $36.5 billion, higher than the market expectation of $36.2 billion, and earnings per share also beat expectations, reaching $4.71, compared with market expectations of $4.33. BofA reiterates its "buy" rating and maintains its price target at $550.

In other markets, major European stock indexes collectively closed higher, with the German DAX 30 index up 1.33%, the British FTSE 100 index up 0.77%, the French CAC 40 index up 0.89%, and the European Stoxx 50 index up 1.37%.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for June delivery rose 28 cents, or 0.34%, to settle at $83.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude futures for June delivery on Eurocontinental Exchange rose 49 cents, or 0.55%, to settle at $89.50 a barrel.

U.S. crude rose 0.85% for the week, while Brent, the benchmark for global crude prices, rose 2.53% after both recorded losses for two consecutive weeks.