Markets
Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
4/24/25

US stocks surge on solid earnings and dearth of negative trade headlines

US stocks started out the session flat and proceeded to rise throughout the rest of the day, as sentiment and positioning continued to repair with the absence of any negative headlines on global trade.

The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 rose 2% while the Nasdaq 100 outperformed with a 2.8% gain.

Tech was the standout gainer among S&P 500 sector ETFs, while industrials, materials, and communications services also booked advances of more than 2%. Consumer staples were the worst-performing sector, with disappointing earnings results and a general move away from safer stocks weighing on the group.

ServiceNow and Hasbro led the S&P 500’s gains after topping earnings expectations. ServiceNow benefited from a significant boost in government sales. Meanwhile, Hasbro cashed in on its high-margin game licensing deals. The two were only a few out of a barrage of quarterly results from major companies across industries. 

Airlines faced turbulence as American Airlines and Southwest Airlines both pulled their full-year guidance, citing rising costs and tariff uncertainty.

Media giant Comcast posted a strong Q1 earnings beat but saw its stock fall as broadband customer losses had Wall Street rethinking the future of its cable business.

Procter & Gamble shares slid after the consumer staples giant slashed its sales outlook in response to “challenging and volatile” economic conditions and said it planned to raise prices. 

Kering shares reversed their losses on the day even as the luxury giant missed first-quarter sales targets and warned of further challenges ahead.

Texas Instruments surged after the chipmaker broke a multiyear streak of declining sales, signaling recovery and growth prospects.

IBM shares fell by the most in nearly a year, despite posting strong Q1 results, as investors fear that Elon Musk-led DOGE inquiries could jeopardize the company’s government contracts.

United Rentals shares soared after the world’s largest equipment company said it would likely benefit from ongoing trade uncertainties.

Outside of earnings… Nintendo surged after preorders for its highly anticipated Switch 2 consoles finally kicked off in the US after a weeks-long delay due to tariffs.

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Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa
16h
S&P 500 goes nowhere, Nasdaq 100 hits another record, small-caps tumble

Warner Bros. Discovery led gains for the second day in a row, and only three S&P 500 sector ETFs finished in the green.

Horse Ranch In Zhangye
markets
Matt Phillips
16h

Rocket lab soars to new record close amid rally for retail faves

Rocket Lab ripped by roughly 10% Friday to close at a new all-time high, riding an upturn of retail enthusiasm for a coterie of tech-themed favorites, even as the broader market was more or less flat on the day.

Goldman Sachs’ basket of “retail favorites” — its heaviest weights are Reddit, AppLovin, and Tempus AI — was the second-biggest gainer among the company’s flagship US equity baskets on Friday, rising about 1.6%. The S&P was almost dead flat.

It’s not Rocket Lab’s first retail rodeo, as the money-losing company has more than doubled this year and is up nearly 700% over the last 12 months.

Oracle Wall Street Revisions

Analysts revise up anything and everything they thought about Oracle

After the company’s bombshell earnings this week, Wall Street thinks Oracle’s trajectory has changed.

Matt Phillips18h
markets
Nia Warfield
19h

Six Flags pops after reiterating its guidance as theme park attendance rebounds

Six Flags shares rose more than 7% today after the company reported a rebound in attendance and early season pass sales heading into the fall. The nine-week period ended August 31 saw 17.8 million guests, up about 2% from the same stretch last year, with stronger momentum in the final four weeks. 

More importantly, Six Flags reaffirmed its full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance of $860 million to $910 million, showing confidence that its cost and operations strategy can stay strong for the duration of the year. Riding that wave, Six Flags also said early 2026 season pass unit sales are pacing ahead of last year, and average season pass prices are up about 3%.

The good vibes come despite a drop in in-park per-capita spending, especially from admissions, where promotions and changes to attendance mix (which parks or days guests visit) have weighed. Earlier this week, the amusement giant signed a new agreement that extended its position as the exclusive amusement park partner for Peanuts™ in North America through 2030.

Despite the rally, Six Flags shares are down about 52% year to date.

markets
Max Knoblauch
21h

Rivian turns red on the year, squeezed by a recall and the looming end of the EV tax credit

Shares of EV maker Rivian are down more than 5% on Friday following the company’s recall of 24,214 vehicles due to a software issue. The stock move erases Rivian’s year-to-date gain and turns the company negative on the year.

Rivian’s 2025 model year R1S and R1T are affected by the defect, which was identified after a vehicle’s hands-free highway assist software failed to identify another vehicle on the road, causing a low-speed collision. Rivian said it’s released an over-the-air update to fix the issue.

The recall marks Rivian’s fifth this year, affecting nearly 70,000 of its vehicles.

Rivian’s shares are down more than 20% from their 2025 high, which came prior to the passage of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Through the legislation, the $7,500 EV tax credit is set to expire at the end of the month.

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