Stocks Hit Record on Jobs Data as Chipmakers Surge

Stocks hit all-time highs. Oil edged up, but remained on track for a weekly slide. The U.S. said it expects Iran to respond to President Donald Trump's latest proposal to end their war imminently, as overnight clashes threatened to further fracture a monthlong ceasefire. Bond yields fell alongside the dollar.

While geopolitical developments remained the key driver for markets, investors kept a close eye on the latest economic data to assess the impacts of the war. US employers added to payrolls for a second month in April, marking the first back-to-back advance in nearly a year. The jobless rate held steady.

"The economy is so much better than what the doom crew has been saying," said Chris Zaccarelli at Northlight Asset Management. "There are a lot of headwinds – higher oil prices, sticky inflation and higher-for-longer interest rates – and yet the labor market is adding jobs."

For those who are scratching their heads about the market resilience amid all the uncertainties, Zaccarelli says the short answer is: Stock prices follow earnings and – at least for now – they're growing too quickly for investors to ignore. About 82% of the S&P 500's companies have beaten first-quarter profit estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

"Bears continue to point to the narrowness of the rally, particularly in areas like semiconductors, but momentum — both in price action and earnings revisions — has remained the dominant force driving markets higher," said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.

Even with signs of life in the labor market, the Federal Reserve is likely to remain on hold for now to allow the oil price spike to play itself out, according to Chris Kampitsis at Barnum Financial Group. Money market pricing continued to suggest the Fed will keep rates steady this year.

"Strong data and inflation have likely put paid to any easing in the foreseeable future, though this could change depending on how energy prices and the situation in the Middle East develop," said Lindsay Rosner at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Iran has still given no indication whether it will accept Trump's plan, sent on Wednesday, which proposes that the Islamic Republic reopen the Strait of Hormuz and the US end a blockade on ports. The nation "should" give an answer on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.

Corporate Highlights:

• - Nvidia Corp. is investing as much as $2.1 billion in IREN Ltd. as part of a broader partnership aimed at accelerating the construction of AI infrastructure.
• - CoreWeave Inc.'s disappointing forecast sparked concerns about slowing growth at a time when the company is spending heavily to bolster operations.
• - Cloudflare Inc. said it would slash jobs and gave a forecast for revenue that fell short of analysts' expectations.
• - Coinbase Global Inc. said trading services had resumed after a significant outage left customers unable to transact on its platform for almost seven hours on Friday.
• - Block Inc. offered a sunnier outlook for profits after orchestrating a severe round of job cuts related to AI that executives said were painful but necessary.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• - The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 1:34 p.m. New York time
• - The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%
• - The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
• - The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%

Currencies

• - The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
• - The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1773
• - The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.3621
• - The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 156.66 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• - Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $80,164.18
• - Ether rose 0.9% to $2,308.51

Bonds

• - The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.36%
• - Germany's 10-year yield was little changed at 3.01%
• - Britain's 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.91%

Commodities

• - West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $95.48 a barrel
• - Spot gold rose 0.7% to $4,720.08 an ounce

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