US close: Stocks take step higher as Apple surges to record

Wall Street's main market gauges finished higher on Friday, helped by a record close for Apple stock, with traders apparently not overly bothered by the lack of a breakthrough in trade talks between Beijing and Washington.

That was despite a somewhat mixed reading on the US jobs market for April, amid slower-than-expected wage growth and a dip in the labour force participation rate.

Against that backdrop, by the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.39% or 332.36 points higher at 24,562.51, alongside a gain of 1.28% or 33.69 points to 2,663.42 for the S&P 500 and a rise of 1.71% or 121.47 points on the Nasdaq Composite.

Gains for Apple followed a CNBC report that Berkshire Hathaway had bought 75m shares in the company over the first three months of 2018.

Nevertheless, the S&P 500 ended slightly lower for the week as a whole, as did the Dow Industrials, but the Nasdaq Composite managed to close on the front foot.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury saw the session out from 2.96%, which was flat on the day and down by one basis point for the week.

China and jobs in focus

Regarding China, two days of talks ended without any joint communique from the two economic powers, although according to the state-run Xinhua news agency progress was made in some areas.

Significantly too, earlier in the session, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said both delegations had held "very good conversations".

The latest monthly employment data meanwhile was a mixed bag, according to analysts at Berenberg Capital Markets.

According to the US Labour Department, the US economy generated 164,000 new jobs in April (Consensus: 185,000), with the prior two months' gains revised up by a combined 30,000.

Hourly average earnings on the other hand rose by just 0.1% on the month (consensus: 0.2%), leaving the year-on-year rate of change at March's downwardly-revised level of 2.6%.

To Berenberg's Roiana Reid, that seemed to show that wages were unable to sustain their strong momentum, although analysts at RBC told Bloomberg TV that a deeper dig into the data revealed stronger underlying trends.

In any case, despite the above Reid did also tell clients that: "This very long streak of job growth (91 consecutive months) and job gains of this magnitude at this point in the labor market recovery are impressive, in our view.

"Despite the turbulent financial markets, ongoing global trade uncertainties, and other challenges (rising input prices), firms remain sufficiently confident in the economic outlook to increase both hiring and investment."

A lot going on in the background

Not to lose sight of, on Friday traders were also keeping tabs on recent sharp losses in the Turkish lira and Argentine peso, with the latter forcing the country's central bank to raise interest rates for a third time in less than a week.

In parallel, and ahead of the 12 May deadline set by the White House to decide whether to leave the Iranian nuclear deal, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures settled 1.9% higher at $69.72 a barrel on NYMEX - their highest level since 26 November 2014.

On that note, BP's ADRs were among those issues hitting fresh 52-week highs on the Big Board at the end of the week.

As an aside, market watchers also picked-up on the results of the latest daily Presidential tracking poll from Rasmussen, which showed Donald Trump's approval rating hit 51%, one of his best showings year-to-date.

Shake Shack rockets

On the corporate front, and at the sector level, the best performance was seen in the following industrial groups: Coal (12.64%), Computer Hardware (3.56%) and Toys (3.40%).

At the individual company level meanwhile, shares of Newell Brands were also higher, with its stock gaining 4.76% following the release of its first-quarter earnings, while Cardinal Health picked up 3.84% after its shares plunged late on Thursday, as the drug distributor cut its annual earnings forecast and posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit.

Elsewhere, Go-Pro moved ahead 6.85% and Shake Shack soared 18% after both posted solid earnings.

Dow Jones - Risers

Apple Inc. (AAPL) $183.83 3.92%
McDonald's Corp. (MCD) $165.05 3.09%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $101.15 2.42%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $45.30 1.94%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $129.69 1.89%
3M Co. (MMM) $199.36 1.87%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $146.37 1.80%
Nike Inc. (NKE) $68.10 1.79%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $64.47 1.58%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $119.51 1.54%

Dow Jones - Fallers

Chevron Corp. (CVX) $125.56 -0.37%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $34.84 0.23%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $57.75 0.38%
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) $76.90 0.47%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $234.94 0.66%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $48.19 0.73%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $235.90 0.75%
Visa Inc. (V) $128.21 0.77%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $124.19 0.94%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $52.78 0.96%

S&P 500 - Risers

CBS Corp. (CBS) $53.17 9.09%
Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) $63.84 8.06%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $58.01 5.57%
United States Steel Corp. (X) $34.52 4.89%
DaVita Inc (DVA) $66.38 4.88%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $69.84 4.52%
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) $3.05 4.45%
FMC Corp. (FMC) $87.42 4.42%
Cardinal Health Inc. (CAH) $53.01 4.35%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $52.49 4.33%

S&P 500 - Fallers

Fluor Corp. (FLR) $45.76 -22.44%
Teradata Corp. (TDC) $38.06 -4.85%
VF Corp. (VFC) $76.26 -2.79%
Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $70.22 -2.74%
Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) $38.71 -2.10%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $93.61 -2.04%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $31.12 -1.83%
Andeavor (ANDV) $139.76 -1.29%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A (STZ) $221.28 -1.25%
Eog Resources Inc. (EOG) $114.67 -1.16%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers

Idexx Laboratories Inc. (IDXX) $212.20 8.39%
Kraft Heinz Co. (KHC) $58.01 5.57%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $69.84 4.52%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $52.49 4.33%
Skyworks Solutions Inc. (SWKS) $96.20 4.28%
Liberty Global plc Series A (LBTYA) $31.75 4.20%
Liberty Global plc Series C (LBTYK) $30.51 4.17%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $183.83 3.92%
Cerner Corp. (CERN) $57.24 3.90%
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BMRN) $85.38 3.74%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers

Express Scripts Holding Co (ESRX) $70.22 -2.74%
Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) $93.61 -2.04%
Expedia Group Inc. (EXPE) $110.12 -1.04%
Ctrip.Com International Ltd. Ads (CTRP) $41.18 -0.48%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $28.85 -0.48%
Incyte Corp. (INCY) $62.13 -0.42%
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) $291.25 -0.40%
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $251.73 -0.29%
Mylan Inc. (MYL) $35.98 -0.19%
Mercadolibre Inc. (MELI) $329.97 -0.19%