S&P 500 closes higher for a fourth day in a row, notches 4% gain for the week

All three major indexes finished higher on Friday, making them positive on the week.

The S&P 500 added 0.74%, finishing at 5,525.21. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.26% and settled at 17,382.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged with a gain of 20.10 points, or 0.05%, and closed at 40,113.50.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The damage to U.S. equities has already been done, Deutsche Bank wrote in a Friday note.

"For now markets continue to recover with U.S. assets in particular catching up on lost performance after the recent normalization of policy from the US administration," wrote Jim Reid, the firm's global head of macro and thematic research. "My view is that the damage to U.S. exceptionalism will be longer lasting but that it's understandable that there'll be a relief recovery after the U.S. has come back from the brink policy wise."

Going forward, Reid added that the performance of the "Magnificent Seven" tech titans will be of the utmost importance.

"It's also worth noting that before Liberation Day the Mag-7 were notably underperforming, especially since DeepSeek's arrival onto the scene and a generally disappointing Q4 earnings season for the group," he added. "How the Mag-7 perform from here will dictate a lot of the U.S. exceptionalism trade."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Piper Sandler believes the Trump administration is unlikely to engage in major tariff negotiations, at least in the near term.

"Trump has not pivoted on trade. Tariffs today are higher than his most ambitious proposals during the 2024 campaign and are at the highest levels in more than a century. Trump has always been and remains the driver of the trade agenda," the firm wrote in a Friday note. "There are likely to be few, if any, comprehensive deals with our major trading partners over the next couple of months."

Piper Sandler added that a tariff de-escalation looks especially unlikely, given the president's previous comments that he was willing to accept some economic softening.

"It seems much more likely that absent considerably more economic pain, Trump is going to leave tariffs roughly where they are today. We think Trump's pain threshold remains high and investors should remain defensive until evidence accumulates Trump's pain threshold has been reached," Piper Sandler said.

— Lisa Kailai Han

One-third of the way through first-quarter earnings season and with the busiest week coming up next week, corporate results have been better than expected so far. Of the S&P 500 companies that have already reported, earnings have been 7% above expectations, while revenues have been 1% above consensus.

But the earnings picture for 2025 has changed drastically since three weeks ago. 

Headed into this earnings season, first-quarter earnings were supposed to be the lull of the year. But with so much uncertainty over both macroeconomic conditions and trade policies, many companies have been giving downbeat second-quarter forecasts and have been withdrawing or balking at revising their full-year projections.

As a result, analysts have been taking down their estimates for the rest of the year — so much so that the first quarter is now expected to have the highest earnings growth of 2025.

Estimates for the second, third and fourth quarters have been noticeably lowered over the past three weeks, with the second quarter now looking to be the worst quarter of the year.

— Robert Hum

After weeks of uncertain tariff news, the market seems to finally be stabilizing, according to Citi.

"Equities can cheerlead improving trade narratives," the bank wrote in a Friday note. "As long as the momentum of trade deals is consistently positive, and monetary policy becomes more supportive, equities should continue to stabilize and grind higher for now."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Palantir shares built on their recent rally on Friday.

The defense tech stock jumped more than 3% in the session, bringing its gain over the trading week to nearly 19%. The retail investor favorite's shares have now surged more than 47% in 2025.

— Alex Harring

The Financial Times reported Friday that Dan Loeb's activist hedge fund Third Point has taken a position in Kenvue. Shares of the company jumped following the report and were up more than 2% in afternoon trading.

Kenvue is the company that was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023. Its product lineup includes Tylenol and Listerine. Other activist firms are also involved with Kenvue, including Starboard Value CEO Jeffrey Smith joining the company's board earlier this year.

CNBC has not confirmed the Financial Times report.

— Jesse Pound

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, is down for a fourth day Friday and off by more than 15% for the week as a whole.

The VIX index measures traders' expectations for how much the S&P 500 might move in either direction, up or down, over the next 30 days, using options prices. When the VIX is high, traders are thought to be skittish, contemplating large swings in prices, and when the VIX is low, investors are considered to be calmer and more complacent about the outlook.

The VIX fell as low as 24.85 on Friday, the lowest since Trump hiked U.S. tariffs on imports on April 2, when the index closed at 21.51.

In the interim, the VIX soared to 60.13 on April 7, and for four consecutive days traded in the mid- to high 50s.

— Scott Schnipper

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that his administration would not drop tariffs on China unless "they give us something substantial."

When asked about what the offer from China could be, Trump said it would be a "big win" if China would be "open" to more U.S. goods being sold in that country.

"I'm not even sure I'm going to ask for it because they don't want it open," Trump added.

— Jesse Pound

Goldman Sachs says ex-U.S. investors have begun to offload a sizable portion of their U.S. assets.

"The recent declines in US stocks and bonds alongside the weakening dollar have raised investor questions about a flight of foreign investors out of US assets," the bank wrote in a Thursday note. "We estimate foreign investors have sold roughly $60 billion of U.S. stocks since the start of March. High frequency fund flow data suggest European investors have driven the selling, while other regions have generally continued to buy U.S. stocks."

This selling posts a "substantial" risk to equity valuations, Goldman Sachs said, since foreign investors started the year off with a record 18% ownership share of domestic equities.

— Lisa Kailai Han

The S&P 500 materials sector was down about 1% in afternoon trading, making it the worst group in the index on Friday, according to FactSet.

Materials were weighed down by Eastman Chemical, which fell 6%. The company on Friday morning reported first-quarter revenue of $2.29 billion, slightly below Wall Street expectations of $2.33 billion, according to FactSet. Second-quarter earnings guidance also came in below expectations, with Eastman Chemical citing tariff uncertainty as a factor.

The materials group is still up about 1.7% for the week.

— Jesse Pound

Check out some of the companies making headlines in midday trading:

• T-Mobile — Shares pulled back 11% after the company's wireless subscribers for the first quarter missed Wall Street estimates. T-Mobile reported 495,000 postpaid phone additions in the first quarter, while analysts polled by StreetAccount were looking for 504,000.
• Alphabet — The Google parent company gained about 2% on the heels of better-than-expected first-quarter results. Alphabet reported $2.81 in earnings per share on revenue of $90.23 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG forecast $2.01 in earnings per share and $89.12 billion in revenue.
• Skechers — Shares fell 4.8% after the footwear maker posted weaker-than-expected revenue for the first quarter and withdrew its 2025 guidance due to "macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from global trade policies." The company's earnings for the quarter came in above analysts' estimates, however.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

With tariff-related uncertainty rising in weekend weeks, Jay Hatfield says investors would welcome a quiet day like Friday's morning trading session.

"Having boring days is bullish for the market. I would argue that just having this kind of meandering market around flat is bullish because it means people are calming down and that the tariff tantrum is in the process of ending," the firm's founder and chief investment officer told CNBC in an interview.

— Lisa Kailai Han

On Friday, four stocks in the S&P 500 traded at new 52-week lows.

These names included:

• Campbell Soup Company trading at lows not seen since May 2019
• PepsiCo trading at lows not seen since March 2021
• UnitedHealth trading at lows not seen since October 2021
• Enphase Energy trading at lows not seen since June 2020

Three stocks in the broad market benchmark traded at new all-time highs. The following stocks hit this milestone:

• Netflix trading at all-time-high levels back to its initial public offering in May 2002
• Take-Two Interactive trading at all-time-high levels since its IPO in April 1997
• Verisign trading at all-time-high levels back to its IPO in January 1998

— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han

Tesla was last pacing for its best week since November 2024.

Shares of the electric vehicle maker have surged 28% since their intraday low on April 7, 2025. Investors have been optimistic after CEO Elon Musk said during Tesla's recent earnings call that he will spend "significantly" less time running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency starting in May.

Tesla stock is now pacing to snap its worst two-month stretch since 2022.

— Adrian van Hauwermeiren, Lisa Kailai Han

Among the 11 S&P 500 sectors, consumer staples is the only category poised to finish the week in negative territory.

Companies have increasingly sounded the alarm over escalating trade tensions, and have cut their outlooks accordingly on the belief that these duties could hurt consumer confidence and raise prices.

Consumer staples names hit hardest this week include:

• Kimberly-Clark on pace for its worst week since March 2022
• Procter & Gamble on track for its worst week since May 2022
• PepsiCo on pace for its worst week since March 2022
• Church & Dwight on track for its worst week since October 2023

— Adrian van Hauwermeiren, Lisa Kailai Han

Final adjustment to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey showed slight improvements from the mid-month readings.

The headline index reading of 52.2 was better than the mid-month level of 50.7 and above the Dow Jones estimate for 50.8. On inflation, the one-year outlook is at 6.5%, down 0.2 percentage points on revision but still the highest reading since November 1981. At the five-year horizon, the outlook was unchanged at 4.4%.

The drop in the headline number is the biggest three-month slide since the 1990 recession, according to Joanne Hsu, the survey's director.

— Jeff Cox

The stock market's three-day win streak triggered a buy signal in the five-day moving average of the advance/decline line for the first time going back to November 2023, according to Wolfe Research. It is an indicator that has historically meant muted returns over the next month, but better gains over the next three.

Even so, the firm's Rob Ginsberg said he remains cautious amid ongoing uncertainty, saying he is keeping to a middle road where he is "not too bearish into weakness and not too bullish into strength."

In particular, he observed the Nasdaq Composite's three-day performance, in which it rallied 7.9%, has historically preceded losses over both the one-month and three-month period. He looked back for other instances when the Nasdaq rallied at least 7.5% over a three-day stretch, while also trading below its 50-day moving average.

"Since 2000, there have been forty-four such occurrences," Ginsberg wrote. "The average 1-month return following these prior signals saw an average decline of 1.4% (45% positive w/ a 9.9% avg rally/ 55% negative w/ an avg. decline of -10.8%), while looking out 3-months the average decline increases to 3.7% (43% positive w/ a 16.9% avg rally/57% negative w/ an avg. decline of 19.4%).

"Bottom line, we will default to price and significant resistance awaits," he concluded.

— Sarah Min

After notching three days of back-to-back gains, stocks opened Friday's trading session little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 65 points, or 0.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were both trading around flat.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Citi is sticking by Hasbro after the toy maker's strong first-quarter earnings and revenue beat, saying the company's underlying momentum can remain resilient in the face of tariffs and consumer weakness concerns.

Analyst James Hardiman upgraded Hasbro to buy from neutral and raised his price target by $17 to $72. His new forecast suggests about 19.3% potential upside for the stock, which jumped more than 14.5% this week, bringing the stock into the green for the year.

"Following the Liberation Day swoon, investors now get another swing at the Hasbro transformation story, at a cheaper price, and with added visibility on the stellar momentum underway at WotC," Hardiman said. "And while tariff uncertainty remains a key swing factor, management's unchanged guidance deftly flipped the script on its risk profile, with tariff headlines from here more likely to lead to upside than downside."

Hardiman pointed to the strength of Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast business.

— Pia Singh

Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

• Meta Platforms— The Facebook and Instagram parent jumped about 3%. Meta cut staff in its Reality Labs division, CNBC reported. 
• Alphabet— The Google and YouTube owner climbed more than 4% after first-quarter results topped Wall Street expectations. Alphabet earned $2.81 per share on $90.23 billion in revenue for the quarter, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had estimated $2.01 in earnings per share and $89.12 billion in revenue.
• T-Mobile— Shares of the telecommunications company fell 5.5% after it reported fewer first-quarter wireless phone subscribers than the Street expected, seeing 495,000 postpaid phone additions versus analysts' call for 504,000, according to StreetAccount. Earnings and revenue for the first quarter topped Street estimates.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Shares of Intel were trading 7% lower Friday morning after the struggling chipmaker issued disappointing guidance for the current quarter.

Citing elevated uncertainty, Intel said it expects revenue for the current quarter of $11.8 billion at the midpoint of the range, lower than the average analyst estimate of $12.82 billion. The company also expects earnings to be breakeven, while analysts had penciled in a profit of 6 cents per share.

However, Intel posted first-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

— Kif Leswing, Lisa Kailai Han

Shares of Alphabet popped 5% on Friday after the parent company of Google and YouTube posted a first-quarter earnings beat.

Alphabet earned $2.81 per share on revenue of $90.23 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected $2.01 in earnings per share and $89.12 billion in revenue.

However, the company's YouTube advertising revenue and Google Cloud revenue came in slightly below estimates.

— Jennifer Elias, Lisa Kailai Han

President Donald Trump gave an interview with Time magazine on Tuesday that was published early Friday. Here are some of the highlights from the transcript:

• When asked if he would consider it a victory if high tariffs of 20% to 50% on foreign imports were in place a year from now, Trump said he would consider that a "total victory" because the U.S. "will be making a fortune."
• On the notion that the bond market and rising yields forced his hand in granting a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs, Trump said, "The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn't."
• Trump said China's President Xi has called him about trade.
• The president said "200 deals" on trade will be announced "over the next three to four weeks."

— John Melloy

If the S&P 500 closes higher on Friday, it would mark the benchmark's first four-day winning streak since late February. Back then, the index was trading around 6,000. On Thursday, it closed at 5,484.77.

— Fred Imbert

Satisfactory earnings results from the "Magnificent Seven" may send the market even higher over the coming days, according to Anthony Saglimbene of Ameriprise.

"I think it's very easy for investors to get lost in the headlines around tariffs, around economic uncertainty, around a potential recession," the firm's chief market strategist told CNBC. "All of that has dampened some investor sentiment, but when you look at the numbers and what's really weighing on major indexes right now, it's the Magnificent Seven. It's the companies that had elevated valuations and expectations coming into the year."

"If we get some pretty decent earnings reports over the next couple days and over the next week, that might be an actual catalyst to kind of keep some of the momentum in major averages moving a little bit higher," he continued.

A few megacap technology names are set to report earnings next week. Meta Platforms and Microsoft are both scheduled to release their results after market close on Wednesday, while Amazon and Apple earnings are slated for release after the bell on Thursday.

Stocks closed in positive territory for a third consecutive day Thursday, supported by gains in megacap technology stocks. The S&P 500 rose more than 2% in the session, and the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced nearly 3% and more than 1%, respectively.

— Sean Conlon

News flow will continue to dictate market moves at least in the short term, UBS wrote in a Thursday note.

"We expect volatility to remain elevated as negotiations continue, but recent developments suggest a less aggressive approach to resolving trade disputes," the firm said. "The market's strong rebound reflects growing confidence that the most adverse outcome can be avoided, though upcoming news flow will likely continue to drive short-term swings."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Check out the stocks making big moves in extended trading Thursday:

• Alphabet — Shares of the Google parent gained about 5% after its first-quarter results topped Wall Street's expectations. Alphabet earned $2.81 per share on $90.23 billion in revenue for the quarter, while analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected $2.01 in earnings per share and $89.12 billion in revenue.
• Intel — The stock fell almost 6% after the company's outlook for the current quarter disappointed investors. Intel is calling for revenue for the period to come in at $11.8 billion at its midpoint, less than the average estimate among analysts of $12.82 billion, and anticipates earnings will be breakeven. The company also said it is planning to cut its operational and capital expenses.
• Gilead Sciences — The biopharmaceutical stock dropped more than 3% on the heels of the company's weaker-than-expected first-quarter revenue. The company rang up $6.67 billion in sales versus the $6.81 billion analysts had penciled in, according to LSEG. Earnings for the quarter came in better than expected, however.

Read here for the full list.

— Sean Conlon

S&P 500 futures rose Thursday night following another winning session for stocks.

Futures linked to the broad market index traded 0.2% higher just after 6 p.m. ET, and Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.3%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.

— Sean Conlon