U.S. stock markets finished strong Friday, with the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all rising more than 1% after the April jobs report beat economists’ predictions.
But it was the price of oil, which rallied to more than $59, that fueled the biggest individual stock gains.
Six out of the top 10 performers in the S&P 500 were energy companies, with Texas-based oil and gas producers Southwestern Energy (SWN) and Range Resources (RRC), along with utility NRG Energy (NRG), leading the way by posting increases of nearly 6% each. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and offshore driller Transocean (RIG) also gained more than 5% apiece, followed by Noble Energy (NE), which rose more than 4%.
Interestingly, the energy producers among those winning stocks actually get more of their sales from natural gas, which fell on Friday, than from oil.
But several of the companies’ shares had been down previously during the week after they reported a mixed bag of first-quarter earnings results. Part of the rally may just have been due to a bounce back off those lows.
On the flip side, several companies that had recently been on a hot streak gave back some of those gains Friday. The biggest loser was Monster Beverages (MNST), which fell nearly 11% after reporting earnings Thursday that missed Wall Street’s expectations. The maker of energy drinks took a hit on international sales because of an unfavorable currency exchange rate, while also paying out big fees to terminate agreements with its distributors in preparation for a new distribution deal with Coca-Cola (KO).
Meanwhile Salesforce (CRM), which had spiked 9% over the last two weeks on rumors that a big buyer—Microsoft (MSFT) has been heavily speculated—was prepping a takeover bid, declined almost 3% on reports that the rumors were false.
Other laggards included mobile computing company Nvidia (NVDA) (down 7.4%), and healthcare technology firm Cerner (CERN) (down 4.5%). Both fell after lowering their revenue projections Thursday.
Overall, Friday’s market rally seemed healthy, despite investors’ rising concern that stock valuations are reaching lofty heights. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose 267 points to close at 18,191, and the S&P 500, which closed at 2,116, remained below their record highs. The same was true of Nasdaq, which added 58 point to close at 5,004.
The fact that the gains were led by energy companies, which have been trading at depressed prices, while some high-flying stocks came back to earth. That points to a continuing run for this six-plus-year bull market because the moves brought those stocks closer to reasonable values.
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