Investors remained focused on the progress of U.S.-China trade relations as U.S. stocks closed higher for the fourth consecutive trading day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average showed volatility, dropping as much as 374 points before closing with a 20-point gain at 40,113 points. The NASDAQ rose sharply, ending up 216 points, or 1.3%, at 17,382 points, buoyed by a significant 9.8% surge in Tesla (TSLA, Financial) shares.
The S&P 500 Index also gained 40 points, or 0.7%, closing at 5,525 points. The increase in Tesla’s stock followed the announcement of new autonomous vehicle testing and deployment rules in California. Other technology stocks showed strong performances, with Nvidia (NVDA) up 4.3%, Meta Platforms (META) rising 2.7%, and both Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) increasing by over 1%. Apple (AAPL) saw a modest gain of less than 1%.
Alphabet (GOOG) exceeded expectations with first-quarter revenue growth and a dividend increase, gaining 1.5%. In contrast, Intel (INTC) fell 6.7% after issuing disappointing guidance, while T-Mobile (TMUS) reported better-than-expected first-quarter results but saw its stock drop 11%.
Over the week, the S&P 500 climbed 4.6%, the NASDAQ increased 6.7%, and the Dow Jones rose 2.5%.
