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Technology and tech-esque stocks were the vanguard for a wild (and broad) stock-market rally Thursday that largely ignored an unexpected contraction in U.S. economic activity.
This morning, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. gross domestic product declined at a 1.4% annualized pace during the first quarter of 2022, falling far shy of the 1% gain that economists, on average, expected. However, several experts noted that it wasn't all bad news; a 2.7% rise in consumer spending and other metrics made the report more noise than omen.
"Huge miss on GDP this morning, but just looking at the headline [number] is misleading; we'd rate the report neutral overall," says Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for registered investment advisory firm Cornerstone Wealth, who believes the report was overall marginally net-bullish for risk assets. "Trade, inventories and government spending all dragged, but the consumer held up and business investment was strong.
"The big headline miss also gives the Fed some breathing room," he adds.
Investors and traders seemed more occupied with the earnings calendar. Facebook parent Meta Networks (FB, +17.6%) rocketed higher despite missing revenue expectations; bulls instead celebrated a wide earnings beat ($2.72 vs. $2.56 est.) and a return to user growth. Specifically, the Facebook app's daily active user count grew by 4%, to 1.96 billion, following a thin 1 million decline in Q4 2021.
Semiconductor firm Qualcomm (QCOM, +9.7%) delivered a monster quarter, too. Growth in all four major chip markets sent revenues and earnings per share up 41% and 69% year-over-year, respectively, to easy beat estimates. That news stirred the entire semiconductor industry, with rivals including Nvidia (NVDA, +7.4%) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD, +5.6%) up big.
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Apple (AAPL, +4.5%) and Amazon.com (AMZN, +4.7%) were also bid higher ahead of their quarterly reports, due out after Thursday's close. The latter plunged 10% in early after-hours trading after reporting a $2 billion first-quarter loss and delivering a weak Q2 revenue forecast. The former had yet to report as of this writing.
Strength in the technology (+4.0%) and communication services (+4.0%) sectors lifted the recently battered Nasdaq Composite 3.1% to 12,871. The S&P 500 closed up 2.5% to 4,287, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.8% to 33,916.
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Other news in the stock market today:
2022 has flipped the script on income investors, for the worse, but also for the better.
An aggressive Federal Reserve, finally feeling comfortable with the idea of raising its benchmark rate, has sent yields on bonds soaring (and prices, which move in the opposite direction, plunging). However, dividend stocks – especially those of the higher-yield persuasion – have done just dandily; the same Fed moves, as well as worries about U.S. and Chinese economic growth, have dented growthier firms and sent many investors looking for more defensive equities.
Still, regardless of how you typically like to generate investment income, there are attractive opportunities right now in every corner of the market – bonds, regular stocks, even special classes such as master limited partnerships (MLPs) and closed-end funds (CEFs).
And we can introduce you to those opportunities all in one place.
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Kyle Woodley was long AMZN, AMD, FB, NVDA and PYPL as of this writing.
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