U.S. tech stocks clung to record highs by midday Thursday as crude oil tumbled nearly 3% on hopes that Iran will accept a 14-point U.S. memorandum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
WTI crude fell 3.3% to roughly $91.93 a barrel, while Brent crude slid 3.0% to $98.26, on pace to close at the lowest levels in nearly three weeks.
Both benchmarks have plunged more than 11% this week as the prospect of restored tanker flows through Hormuz erodes the geopolitical premium that had pushed oil well above $100 earlier in the spring.
Across U.S. equity markets by midday Thursday, the picture was mixed.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 7,376 after hitting a fresh intraday record high of 7,385 earlier in the session, while the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.4% to 28,706, also smashing prior records.
Over the past six weeks, the Nasdaq has rallied 24%, on pace for its best 6-week rally since April 2020.
Small caps lagged, with the Russell 2000 down 0.7% to 2,867.
Within the Magnificent Seven, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 2.7%, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) climbed 2.9% and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) tacked on 2.5% to a fresh record near $213. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) slipped 0.2% and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) lost 0.5%.
Thursday’s Performance In Major US Indices
| Index | Last | % Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,376.23 | +0.2% |
| Dow Jones | 49,838 | -0.1% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 28,706 | +0.4% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,867.03 | -0.7% |
According to the Benzinga Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.2%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) slipped 0.1%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) gained 0.4%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) fell 0.7%.
Sector leadership skewed defensive and tech-led at midday. The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) sat at the bottom of the S&P 500 sector board, down 2.3% as crude prices unraveled, while the Communication Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) led, up 0.5%.
Thursday’s Earnings Movers
The earnings tape did the heavy lifting on stock-specific moves. Datadog Inc. (NASDAQ:DDOG) surged roughly 30% after first-quarter revenue of $1.006 billion topped the $980 million consensus and adjusted EPS of 60 cents beat the 52-cent estimate.
The cloud observability firm raised full-year revenue guidance to a $4.32 billion midpoint, citing AI-related compute demand and FedRAMP High certification.
AAON Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON) ripped 36% to a record after the HVAC manufacturer’s Q1 print blew past estimates and management flagged a sharp acceleration in data-center cooling backlog. H&R Block Inc. (NYSE:HRB) jumped roughly 26% after fiscal Q3 EPS of $6.02 crushed the $5.77 consensus and revenue of $2.40 billion topped the $2.34 billion estimate; the firm guided FY26 EPS to $5.10–$5.20 and declared a $0.42 quarterly dividend.
Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) jumped roughly 23% after Q1 EPS of $0.82 crushed the $0.61 estimate and the cybersecurity firm raised full-year revenue guidance to a $7.71 billion–$7.87 billion range.
Americold Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE:COLD) climbed about 15% after Q1 results topped expectations and the cold-storage REIT announced a $1.3 billion North American joint venture with EQT to expand its warehouse network.
Other notable winners on the earnings tape included DoorDash Inc. (NASDAQ:DASH), which popped about 12% on a Q1 EPS beat of $0.42 versus $0.37 and bullish marketplace GOV guidance of $32.4 billion–$33.4 billion for Q2.
AppLovin Corp. (NASDAQ:APP) rose 7.2% on a Q1 EPS beat of $3.56, Axon Enterprise Inc. (NASDAQ:AXON) climbed 7.6% on a 25.8% EPS beat, Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ:RUN) jumped 8.9% on a massive EPS beat, Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:ALB) gained 7.5% on a 127% EPS beat, and Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE:PAYC) added 7.2%.
McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) traded flat after a Q1 EPS beat of $2.83 versus $2.75 and 3.8% same-store sales growth — a print Wall Street appeared to view as already priced in.
The Downside Was Equally Violent
- Planet Fitness Inc. (NYSE:PLNT) tumbled around 33% after lowering full-year EPS guidance to $3.19 from a prior range of $3.35–$3.38 and trimming revenue guidance to $1.41 billion versus the $1.44 billion consensus.
- Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ:INSM) plunged about 22% after Q1 revenue of $306 million beat the $301.5 million estimate but management reaffirmed rather than raised its $1 billion BRINSUPRI sales target — a signal investors interpreted as a slowdown after the drug’s blockbuster launch quarter.
- Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) sank roughly 22% after the animal-health leader missed on both lines, posting Q1 EPS of $1.53 versus the $1.63 estimate and revenue of $2.26 billion against a $2.33 billion consensus, with management citing a “challenging market environment.”
- Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc. (NASDAQ:COKE) dropped roughly 17% after Q1 net sales jumped 17% to $1.85 billion but adjusted net income fell 12.3% on margin compression from rising aluminum and labor costs.
- GCI Liberty Inc. (NASDAQ:GLIBK) shed roughly 18% with both share classes selling off in tandem on no specific company-issued catalyst, suggesting positioning ahead a corporate event.
- Outside the Russell 1000, Fastly Inc. (NYSE:FSLY) cratered nearly 38% despite a Q1 EPS beat after guiding Q2 revenue flat and Q2 EPS to $0.05–$0.08 — well below the just-reported quarter.
- Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE:SHAK) dropped roughly 29% on a soft quarter and cautious commentary on store-level margins.
- Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) fell about 10% after the chip designer beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $0.60 and revenue of $1.49 billion but flagged supply constraints capping it to $1 billion of the $2 billion in projected demand for its new datacenter AGI CPU.
- IonQ Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) dropped 9.6%, Beyond Meat Inc. (NASDAQ:BYND) shed 15%, Dutch Bros Inc. (NYSE:BROS) fell 10%, and Core Scientific Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ) dropped 12%, all on disappointing prints.
Investors will turn their attention after the close to a heavyweight earnings docket, with Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB), The Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD), Rocket Lab USA Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB), CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV), Iris Energy Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN), NuScale Power Corp. (NYSE:SMR) and MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) all due to report.
Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| AAON Inc. | +36.3% |
| Datadog Inc. | +29.5% |
| H&R Block Inc. | +25.5% |
| Fortinet Inc. | +22.7% |
| Americold Realty Trust Inc. | +14.8% |
Thursday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Planet Fitness Inc. | -32.8% |
| Insmed Incorporated | -21.9% |
| Zoetis Inc. | -21.6% |
| GCI Liberty Inc. (NASDAQ:GLIBK) | -17.9% |
| Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc. | -17.2% |
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