S&P 500, Nasdaq Hit Records as Apple and Reddit Rally, Oil Retreat Offsets ISM Miss

Friday delivered exactly the kind of tape bulls needed after Thursday’s breakout, but it did not deliver the simple all-clear they wanted. The S&P 500 added 20.31 points to 7,229.32, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 222.13 points to a fresh record at 25,114.44, and the Russell 2000 pushed higher again as investors rewarded Apple, Reddit, Roku, Intel and software strength. The Dow, however, slipped 152.89 points as the rally narrowed away from Thursday’s defensive and cyclical breadth.

The day’s defining shift was that macro pressure eased just enough for earnings to matter. WTI crude fell 2.79% to $102.14 after headlines pointed to a revised Iran peace proposal, taking some heat out of the inflation story that had dominated the Fed and PCE discussion earlier in the week. That oil retreat gave the market room to look past an ISM manufacturing print that matched the prior month at 52.7 but missed the 53.0 consensus.

Morning’s question was whether Apple guidance and Reddit’s advertising surge could keep the breakout intact through the factory data. The answer was yes, but with a selective twist. Apple jumped 3.28% and approached its first record close since December, Reddit surged 13.08%, and QQQ outperformed. Yet energy, industrials, health care, utilities and financials all faded, showing that Friday was less of a broad risk-on stampede than a rotation toward companies with fresh earnings momentum.

Closing Scoreboard

What Happened

The first hour told investors that the earnings bid was real. Apple opened higher after fiscal second-quarter revenue and EPS beat estimates, and the market treated management’s June-quarter growth guidance as more important than the modest iPhone softness that initially kept traders cautious overnight. The stock finished at $280.25, up 3.28%, and its move mattered because the S&P did not need to fight its largest consumer-tech weight.

Reddit added the day’s speculative fuel. Shares climbed 13.08% to $166.48 after the company’s advertising revenue jumped 74% in the first quarter and user growth outpaced projections. Roku rose 6.02% after its own first-quarter beat and upbeat platform-growth commentary. Together, those reactions told the market that digital advertising and connected-TV demand are broadening beyond Alphabet, which itself held Thursday’s post-earnings breakout with another small gain.

The 10:00 a.m. ET ISM report was not strong enough to make Friday a clean macro win. The headline stayed at 52.7, unchanged from March and below the 53.0 forecast. That is expansion, but not acceleration. The S&P final U.S. manufacturing PMI was better at 54.5 versus 53.9 expected, creating a split message: surveys still point to a growing factory sector, but investors did not get the decisive demand rebound that would have neutralized sticky inflation concerns.

The reason stocks still closed higher is that oil did the work ISM could not. Crude’s retreat from $105 toward $102 reduced the immediate fear that higher energy costs would bleed into inflation expectations, transportation margins and Fed communication. That gave growth buyers permission to pay for earnings winners, even as the VIX ticked up and the Dow failed to participate.

Mega-Cap and Key Movers

Sector Breakdown

Sector leadership flipped from Thursday’s broad, Dow-led rally to a narrower growth tape. Technology was the clear winner, communication services and consumer discretionary also advanced, and the QQQ gain outpaced the S&P. The laggards were the groups that had helped Thursday look so broad: energy, industrials, health care, utilities, financials and materials all slipped.

Global Markets

Global markets gave the U.S. a mixed but manageable backdrop. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 228.20 points to 59,513.12 as technology resilience outweighed lingering oil and currency concerns. China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.11% to 4,112.16, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.28% to 25,776.53 as China-facing growth and property sentiment remained uneven.

Europe was stronger. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.42% to 611.55, Germany’s DAX gained 1.41% to 24,292.38, and France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.45% to 8,135. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was nearly flat at 10,375.34. The European message matched the U.S. tape: investors were willing to own equities, but the strongest bids followed regions and sectors with earnings support rather than pure macro relief.

Fixed Income and Commodities

The bond market helped growth stocks by refusing to punish the ISM miss. The 10-year Treasury yield finished near 4.379%, down 1.2 basis points on the day, while the latest FRED curve data show the 2s/10s spread around +52 basis points. That curve remains positively sloped, but the modest decline in long yields made it easier for investors to reprice long-duration earnings winners.

Oil was the bigger story. WTI crude dropped to $102.14 from a prior close of $105.07, and news flow around a revised Iran peace proposal helped pull some geopolitical premium out of energy. Brent was still elevated at $113.94, so this is not a return to a benign commodity backdrop. It is simply a pause in the inflation shock that had threatened to veto the equity breakout.

Gold slipped 0.18% to $4,621.10 as haven demand cooled, while Bitcoin rose to $78,268.66 and EUR/USD eased to 1.1720. The dollar index firmed slightly to 98.08. That combination says investors were not abandoning hedges entirely; they were just willing to pay for stocks where the earnings news was fresh enough to overwhelm macro unease.

Corporate News

Apple dominated the index-level narrative. The company’s earnings beat, $100 billion buyback authorization and stronger June-quarter revenue guidance turned what could have been a post-earnings sell-the-news event into a fresh record-close attempt. The market looked through iPhone revenue softness because services strength and management’s forward revenue range gave investors a cleaner reason to keep Apple in the leadership group.

Reddit was the session’s highest-quality high-beta story. The stock rallied after first-quarter ad revenue surged 74%, adding to evidence that the digital advertising recovery is wider than Alphabet and Meta. Roku reinforced the theme after its Q1 beat, platform growth commentary and Wall Street target increases. Those two moves matter for market breadth because they show speculative capital returning to companies with tangible revenue acceleration, not just AI narratives.

Intel was the surprise volume story, gaining 5.43% after reports that an AI partnership cleared a regulatory hurdle. In semiconductors, AMD rose while Nvidia slipped, and Qualcomm faded after Thursday’s massive post-earnings jump. That dispersion is healthy for the tape: investors are still buying the AI supply chain, but they are no longer treating every semiconductor reaction as interchangeable.

Analyst Actions

FMP’s ratings snapshot remains most constructive on Microsoft with an A- score, while Apple, Amazon and Alphabet sit at B+ and Reddit holds a B score. Roku news flow showed at least five Wall Street firms lifting targets after the beat-and-raise, with reported target ranges clustered around $140 to $160. That analyst support helps explain why Friday’s strongest moves came from stocks with both earnings beats and follow-on estimate momentum.

Economic Data

Friday’s data were modestly mixed. The S&P final U.S. manufacturing PMI improved the tone by printing 54.5, above the 53.9 median forecast though below the prior 55.7. The ISM manufacturing index was less helpful, holding at 52.7 against a 53.0 consensus. The manufacturing sector is still expanding, but it is not accelerating fast enough to erase concerns from Thursday’s PCE and employment-cost readings.

The market reaction says investors are willing to accept moderate factory growth if inflation inputs stop deteriorating. That is why oil mattered more than the ISM headline. A stable 52.7 manufacturing index is not a problem by itself; it becomes a problem only if paired with rising energy prices, firm wage costs and a Fed that cannot signal relief.

After-Hours Movers

After-hours trading was calm relative to the regular session. Apple was quoted around $279.90 bid / $280.00 ask after closing at $280.25, suggesting investors were consolidating the post-earnings gain rather than immediately fading it. Reddit was firmer around $167.20 bid / $167.50 ask after closing at $166.48, keeping the advertising-growth reaction alive.

The AlphaEdge Take

Friday was a bullish close because records matter and the market did what it had to do: it held above Thursday’s breakout, absorbed a mildly disappointing ISM print, and let earnings winners lead. The S&P 500 closing at 7,229.32 confirms that buyers are still defending the 7,200 zone, while the Nasdaq’s record high shows that mega-cap and platform-growth leadership remains alive.

The caution is breadth. Thursday’s rally was broad enough to feel like a regime shift; Friday’s rally was narrower and more dependent on Apple, software, digital advertising and selective semiconductors. That is not bearish, but it changes the playbook. Investors should be less interested in buying everything tied to cyclicality and more focused on companies with visible earnings revisions, clean guidance and pricing power.

The macro backdrop improved only because oil backed off. A WTI close near $102 gives the Fed story breathing room, but it does not remove inflation risk. ISM at 52.7 says the factory sector is expanding without much acceleration, and that keeps the market exposed to any renewed energy spike or services-inflation surprise next week.

Our view: the short-term trend remains higher as long as the S&P 500 holds 7,200 and the VIX stays below 18. The next upside test is the 7,270–7,285 area, where Friday’s intraday high and stretched Nasdaq momentum may invite selling. A close back below 7,180 would be the first warning that the record breakout is turning into exhaustion. Until then, dips in earnings-confirmed leaders remain buyable, but the market no longer deserves a blanket risk-on label.