Markets
Nia Warfield, Luke Kawa

S&P 500 inches up, Nasdaq 100 gains to book record closing highs

The S&P 500 traded in positive territory all day and managed to eke out another record close, though the advance was nothing to write home about. The Nasdaq 100 gained 0.3% to close at a record along with the benchmark US stock index, while the Russell 2000 sank 1.4%.

Consumer discretionary was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, weighed down by Tesla, which fell 8% after CEO Elon Musk pondered the company’s challenges on its Q2 earnings call (including developing full self-driving software as well as tariff and supply chain headwinds). In fact, energy, tech, and communications services were the only sector ETFs with a positive showing on the session.

Gains were led by West Pharmaceutical, with shares up about 23% in its best day ever after the company, which makes tiny rubber components used for GLP-1 pens, crushed Wall Street estimates thanks to soaring weight-loss drug demand. LKQ Corp. led declines, falling nearly 18% after the automotive scrapyard owner reported Q2 profits that fell short of Wall Street expectations and revised its full-year profit guidance lower. Elsewhere...

T-Mobile shares jumped about 6% as Wall Street digested the wireless giant’s better-than-expected Q2 earnings results after the bell Wednesday, along with a fresh upgrade to its full-year forecast.

ServiceNow shares rose 4% after the cloud software company posted strong Q2 results and its CEO said the company would slow hiring for its “soul-crushing” roles.

Chipotle shares tumbled 13% after the burrito biggie posted its second straight quarter of same-store sales declines, also missing the Street’s estimates.

American Airlines’ tumble neared double digits after the company slashed its full-year earnings outlook, projecting an up to $0.20 loss for the year — worse than the Street’s expectations and American’s previous outlook.

Southwest plunged 11% after posting disappointing Q2 results Wednesday and despite the airline’s projections of earning over $350 million in bag fee revenue for the full year.

IBM shares dropped nearly 8% after the company reported Q2 earnings that beat on the top and bottom lines, but posted weaker-than-expected growth in its important software division.

Mattel shares sank over 16% after the toy maker posted mixed second-quarter results, as demand picked up overseas but wasn’t enough to completely offset declines in North America. 

Outside of earnings...

American Eagle shares rose 4%, finishing way off its premarket highs after a new campaign starring actress Sydney Sweeney sparked fresh retail buzz, landing the stock on r/WallStreetBets’ trending list.

UnitedHealth shares dipped almost 5% after the insurance giant said it was responding to requests from the Department of Justice regarding its Medicare Advantage business practices.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern were down 4.5% and less than 1%, respectively, as the two rail giants confirmed that they have, in fact, been involved in talks about combining their companies.

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Hardware stocks jump thanks to server demand and record Lenovo revenue

Server stocks are rallying as Dell, Super Micro Computer, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise ride the momentum of Hong Kong-based Lenovo. The PC maker’s stock rose 19% on Friday, hitting an all-time high, on record Q4 earnings.

Powering the positive earnings report was the company’s AI-related revenue, which grew 84% in the fourth quarter and now makes up over a third of total revenue. Investors seem to think the increased demand for servers could have trickle-down effects for other companies.

“The company’s results and commentary reinforced the outlook for strong AI-infrastructure demand while indicating resilient broader traditional server and storage spending,” wrote Woo Jin Ho, a senior technology analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Lenovo’s $21 billion AI-server pipeline and remarks that demand is outpacing supply support Dell’s AI-demand momentum and point to robust orders.”

AI’s insatiable computing demand is reshaping the hardware industry and driving up server demand.

Dell will report first-quarter earnings on Thursday, May 28.

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Ross Stores surges as Q1 results beat expectations, full-year guidance raised

Ross shares are rising after the company delivered strong Q1 results, with sales topping Wall Street’s projections.

The stock soared 6.3% just after the open.

Key numbers:

  • Earnings per share of $2.02 vs. $1.47 year over year (estimate: $1.72).

  • Sales of $6.01 billion, up 21% year over year (estimate: $5.61 billion).

  • Comparable sales growth of 17% (estimate: 8.58%).

CEO Jim Conroy attributed the results to better traffic in stores. “Customer traffic was the primary driver of the strong sales trend as compelling merchandise assortments, higher customer acquisition and engagement from our ongoing marketing initiatives, and an improved in‑store experience are resonating with shoppers.”

The company also noted that transaction volume grew across all key demographics, including “income levels, ethnicities, and age groups, including younger customers.” Sales were also likely buoyed by standard seasonal tailwinds, including consumer spending from tax refunds.

Backed by the strong quarter, the company lifted its full-year targets. Ross now projects same-store sales growth of 6% to 7%, up from the prior forecast of 3% to 4%, topping Wall Street’s estimate of 4.64%. It boosted its annual EPS guidance to a range of $7.50 to $7.74, versus the prior outlook of $7.02 to $7.36.

Ross Stores has been one of the retail sector’s standout performers this year, rising around 20% year to date as of Thursday’s close.

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