Wall Street was mixed despite the higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings report

Wall Street was mixed despite the higher-than-expected first-quarter earnings report.

Wall Street edged higher this Friday, moving to a total weekly gain of between 1% and 2% despite high inflation and falling oil prices. This Friday, Wall Street gains jumped due to better-than-expected earnings forecasts.

Starting with the main index, over 50% of the S&P 500 companies have reassigned their quarterly earnings reports. According to IBES, many companies in the index are on track to gain more than 5% to 7% this quarter. Which boosts market confidence in the recovering economic cycle. The index jumped by more than 0.5% this morning, and as of the midday trading hours, the S&P 500 benchmark was near flat by 0,04% to a total of 5,217.80 basis points, higher by 5 basis points from the previous session. Moreover, Bloomberg reported in the previous session that ten out of 11 major S&P sectors saw gains, with real estate leading with a 1.9% rise. Additionally, earnings are set to reach 7.8% in the first quarter, surpassing April’s forecast of 5.1% growth.

Down below are today’s top market movers in terms of earnings and quarterly performance.

• Akamai Technologies dropped 9% due to disappointing guidance for the current quarter and 2024.
• Unity Software fell 1.3% after missing quarterly earnings per share estimates.
• Novavax stock more than doubled after signing a COVID vaccine deal with Sanofi.
• Moderna stock declined 1% due to the FDA delaying approval of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine.
• Tesla rose 0.2% amid reports of potential tariffs against Chinese EV companies by the U.S.

That being said, the tech-heavy composite Nasdaq was down by 0.17 percent, affected by low gains by Apple, Marat, and Amazon. Apple stock prices were down by 1.01% to be today’s top low; meat prices were down by 0.1%; and Amazon declined by 1.1%.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up by 0.24% to 39,482.90 basis points.

Inflation remains high, and the main financial trouble is on Wall Street and around the globe. That’s why the Fed will act cautiously from now on. That said, and in light of recent data and the weaker-than-expected labor market, hope for interest rate cuts has emerged again, with higher chances that the Fed will start cutting interest in the summer. At this time, there is a fifty-five percent chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points. The data were developed by the FedWatch tool. Although U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powlle confirmed that the interest rate cuts next move will be high, it is more likely to initiate that in September.

Meanwhile, the dollar index heads to a weekly loss this week as global confidence in the dollar declines. In other economic news, the oil market hits back again and hits hard, and it’s on its own way to end this week with high gains. Crude prices declined on Friday, still set for a weekly increase, driven by optimistic data from the U.S. and China, signaling heightened demand. On Friday, U.S. crude futures were down by 0.96% to $78.60 per barrel, while Brent decreased by 0.95% to $83.03.

As for natural gas prices, in the U.S., they decreased by 1.3% to $2,212 per gallon.