S&P rises for eight consecutive days, Apple and Amazon turn to decline after hours, U.S. Treasury bonds plunge, gold drops significantly, crude oil V-shaped reversal

Tech giants reported strong earnings, supporting a rise in U.S. stocks on Thursday. Commodity prices showed mixed results: with risk appetite warming, gold accelerated its decline, while oil, which had seen a double-digit drop in April, rebounded after hitting a low, experiencing a V-shaped reversal during the session. Oil prices accelerated their rebound after Trump warned of sanctions against Iranian oil buyers.

The disappointing U.S. labor market data released over the past three days fueled expectations for interest rate cuts, lowering U.S. Treasury yields. The ISM manufacturing data slightly exceeded expectations, leading to a rebound in Treasury yields and a drop in prices. In addition to the tech giants' earnings reports, positive signals from Trump's chief economic advisor regarding trade negotiations also boosted U.S. stocks. However, after-hours warnings from Apple and Amazon about the impact of tariffs were noted.

Before the U.S. market opened, the number of first-time unemployment claims in the U.S. rose unexpectedly to 241,000, reaching a new high since February. Following the data release, Treasury yields accelerated their decline to a three-week low.

Before the U.S. market opened, White House National Economic Council Director Hassett stated that news regarding tariff negotiations is expected to be announced before the end of Thursday.

The U.S. ISM manufacturing index for April, released in the early trading session, further declined but was still slightly above expectations. Subsequently, Treasury yields rose during the session, and the gains in U.S. stocks slightly narrowed.

Leading tech stocks offset the drag from pharmaceutical stocks on the market: Microsoft, which reported a 33% surge in Azure revenue last quarter and expects capital expenditures to grow this year, rose by as much as 10%. Meta, which increased its capital expenditure guidance due to a stronger focus on AI, saw an 8% rise; Eli Lilly's first-quarter performance exceeded expectations, but pharmacy giant CVX plans to prioritize Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug competitor, impacting its stock price.

After hours, both Apple and Amazon turned lower after releasing their earnings reports. Apple reported weak sales in the Chinese market and expects tariffs to result in $900 million in costs this quarter, while Amazon's second-quarter profit guidance was disappointing, with the worst-case scenario being 27% lower than analysts' expectations, warning that tariffs could have a significant impact.

The three major U.S. stock indices maintained their upward momentum in early trading. After the release of the U.S. ISM manufacturing index, the gains slightly narrowed, but ultimately the S&P 500 and Dow Jones rose for eight consecutive trading days, with the S&P achieving its longest winning streak since late August last year. The Nasdaq erased all losses since the end of March. Microsoft and Meta, which released earnings reports, led the tech giants; pharmaceutical stocks led by Eli Lilly fell against the trend; Apple and Amazon, which warned of tariff impacts in their after-hours reports, turned lower.

• The three major U.S. stock indices collectively rose for the third day this week, with the S&P closing up 0.63%, the Dow up 83.60 points, a gain of 0.21%, both hitting their highest levels since April 2 for six and three consecutive days, respectively. The Nasdaq, which had retreated on Wednesday, rose 1.52%, rebounding to its highest closing level since March 27

• In the S&P 500 sectors, four sectors fell on Thursday, with healthcare down 2.8%, financials, materials, and consumer staples down less than 0.8%. Among the seven sectors that rose, the IT sector, where Microsoft is located, rose 2.2%, and the communication services sector, where Meta is located, rose over 1.5%.
• U.S. stock ETFs: The global technology stock index ETF rose 1.81%, leading the U.S. industry ETFs. The internet stock index ETF rose 1.53%, and the technology sector ETF rose 1.47%, while the healthcare ETF fell 2.73%, and the biotechnology index ETF fell 1.34%.

• Among the "Magnificent 7", Microsoft rose 7.6%, Meta rose 4.2%; Amazon rose 3.1%; media reports that before Trump went to the Middle East, the U.S. considered easing chip export restrictions to the UAE, NVIDIA once rose over 5%, closing up 2.5%; Alphabet rose 1.2%; Apple, which had fallen 1.7% at the beginning of trading, closed up 0.4%; Tesla turned to decline at the end of trading, closing down 0.6%.
• After the earnings report was released, Apple fell over 4%, and Amazon once fell 5%.

• Chip stocks: The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed up 0.4%, Broadcom rose 2.5%, Arm rose 1.2%, while AMD and Intel, which turned to decline at the end of trading, fell 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. Qualcomm, which provided slightly lower revenue guidance for this quarter and is concerned about tariffs impacting product demand, fell 8.9%.
• AI concept stocks: Applovin rose 3.8%, Super Micro Computer, which fell 11.5% on Wednesday, rose 2.7%, while SoundHound fell 1.5%, and Palantir fell 1.9%.
• Popular Chinese concept stocks rebounded after two consecutive declines. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) closed up 0.2%. Alibaba rose 0.9%, JD.com rose 0.7%, Li Auto rose nearly 0.7%, XPeng and Pinduoduo rose nearly 0.4%, Baidu rose 0.1%, while Nio fell nearly 3%, and Pony.ai fell 5.8%.
• Among the individual stocks that reported earnings, Eli Lilly, which saw a 45% surge in revenue exceeding expectations in the first quarter, fell 11.7%; McDonald's, which experienced the largest quarterly same-store sales decline in nearly five years in the U.S. market, fell 2.5% at the beginning of trading, closing down 1.9%; CVS, which raised its full-year profit guidance, rose 4.1% Most European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, are closed for Labor Day on Thursday. European stock trading is light, with slight fluctuations in the pan-European index and the UK stock market.

• The previously seven-day rising European Stoxx 600 index closed up 0.02%, marking its fourth consecutive day of reaching a closing high since April 2. The UK FTSE 100 index also rose 0.02%, barely achieving a 14-day consecutive increase.

• Among the sectors in the Stoxx 600, basic resources, which include mining stocks, rose 0.6%, rebounding after a nearly 3% drop on Wednesday; oil and gas, which fell nearly 11% in April, rose 0.02%.

U.S. Treasury yields rose during the session, reversing the downward trend seen earlier in the week. After the release of U.S. unemployment data, the two-year Treasury yield hit a three-week low, and after the ISM data was released, it rose more than 10 basis points from its low.

• The 10-year benchmark U.S. Treasury yield initially fell below 4.12% after the U.S. unemployment data was released, reaching its lowest level since April 7. Following the release of the ISM manufacturing data, it accelerated its recovery, rising back above 4.20% in the early session, and at one point approached 4.24% to refresh the day's high, closing around 4.22%, up about 6 basis points for the day.
• The 2-year Treasury yield also saw an expanded decline after the unemployment data was released, falling below 3.56% in pre-market trading, marking a three-day low since April 7. After the ISM data, it erased the decline and rose, reaching above 3.72% in the midday session to refresh the day's high, closing around 3.70%, up about 10 basis points for the day.

• European bonds: On Thursday, Germany, France, Italy, and other European countries are closed for Labor Day. UK bond yields rose slightly. By the end of the bond market, the UK 10-year benchmark Treasury yield was around 4.48%, up about 4 basis points for the day; the 2-year UK Treasury yield was around 3.81%, up about 2 basis points for the day.

Hopes for a trade agreement in the U.S. continue to strengthen the dollar, with the dollar index rising for three consecutive days to a nearly three-week high, surpassing 100; the Bank of Japan did not raise interest rates, leading to a sharp decline in the yen, which fell nearly 2% during the session; Bitcoin broke through the $97,000 mark, reaching a two-month high.

• Dollar: The ICE Dollar Index (DXY) broke through the 100.00 mark during the early U.S. stock session, rising to 100.375 in the midday session, refreshing its high since April 11. By the end of the currency market, it was above 100.20, up nearly 0.8% for the day; the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose about 0.5% for the day, with both the dollar index and the Bloomberg index rising for three consecutive days.
• The yen fell for three consecutive days, with the decline expanding after the Bank of Japan's decision was announced during the Asian session. The dollar against the yen rose above 145.70 during the early U.S. stock session, refreshing its high since April 10, up nearly 1.9% for the day
• Offshore Renminbi (CNH) against the US dollar refreshed a daily low of 7.2871 before the European stock market opened, down 173 points during the day. Initially, it tested the 7.27 mark when the US unemployment data was released, nearly erasing the decline. After the US stock market opened, the decline expanded. As of 4:59 AM Beijing time on May 2, it was reported at 7.2789 yuan, down 91 points from Wednesday's New York closing, marking two consecutive declines after three consecutive increases.
• Bitcoin (BTC) generally trended upward throughout Thursday, breaking above $97,400 in early US trading, refreshing the high since late February, rising over $3,000 and more than 3% from the day's low in the Asian market. By the close of the US stock market, it was above $96,500, with an increase of over 2% in the last 24 hours.

International crude oil saw a major reversal during the session, erasing about 3% of the decline and turning to gains after Trump threatened to sanction Iranian oil buyers, with the increase expanding, as US oil bid farewell to its lowest closing price in four years.

• Crude Oil: When European stocks refreshed their low since April 9, US oil fell over 3.1%, and Brent oil fell below the $60 mark, down nearly 2.9%, both turning to gains at the beginning of US trading after three consecutive declines. WTI June crude oil futures closed up nearly 1.77%, reported at $59.24 per barrel; Brent July crude oil futures closed up 1.75%, reported at $62.13 per barrel.
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• US Gasoline and Natural Gas Futures: The NYMEX June gasoline futures, which had fallen for three consecutive days, closed up 1.56%, reported at $2.0492 per gallon; the NYMEX June natural gas futures, which fell on Wednesday, closed up 4.60%, reported at $3.4790 per million British thermal units.

Gold fell for three consecutive days, hitting a new low in over two weeks during the session. After the US unemployment data was released, the decline in gold narrowed, while copper refreshed its daily high.

• Gold: When European stocks refreshed their low since April 14, New York gold futures fell below $3,210, down 3.3% during the day, while spot gold approached $3,202, down over 2.6% during the day. After the US unemployment data was released, before the US stock market opened, futures gold had fallen less than 2.5%, and spot gold had fallen less than 2%.
• COMEX June gold futures closed down 2.9%, reported at $3,222.2 per ounce. By the close of the US stock market, spot gold was reported at $3,228.12, down over 1.8% during the day.

• Copper: After the US unemployment data was released before the US stock market opened, COMEX July copper futures refreshed the daily high to $4.683, up 1.6% during the day, closing up 0.4%, reported at $4.627 per pound