The cboe volatility index fell to 17.43, down 1.4 points, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.7%, or more than 750 points, on Thursday. The move came as the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both closed at record levels, giving stock buyers a strong finish to April after a month powered by megacap earnings and inflation data.
Apple Beats on $111.2 Billion Revenue
Apple posted second-quarter earnings after the market close, reporting $2.01 per share on revenue of $111.2 billion. Analysts had expected $1.96 a share on $109.66 billion, while iPhone revenue reached $56.99 billion. Tim Cook’s company added another high-profile result to a week that kept pressure on short sellers and pushed large-cap technology higher.
0.9% was the Nasdaq Composite’s gain on Thursday, enough for a record close. The index joined the S&P 500 above 7,200 for the first time, while the broad market benchmark was set to surge nearly 10% in April. That combination left the month as the strongest for U.S. stocks since 2020, with the Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100 on pace to jump about 15% and the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund nearly 20%.
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Inflation and Claims Hit 3.5%
3.5% was the year-over-year pace for headline price inflation in March, with core inflation at 3.2% after rising 0.3% in the month. Americans also filed 189,000 initial jobless claims in the week ended April 25. Those figures gave traders fresh evidence that price pressure and labor-market data were not moving sharply enough to derail the rally.
15% is the April pace now tracking for the Nasdaq Composite and Nasdaq 100, and nearly 20% is the expected monthly gain for the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund. Four tech megacaps reported quarterly results with a combined outlook for $725 billion in AI spending this year, keeping the focus on whether spending can keep translating into earnings and revenue growth rather than just higher valuations.
Megacaps Keep the Bid Alive
$725 billion in projected AI spending from four tech megacaps kept the market’s best-performing group at the center of Thursday’s advance. If those capital plans continue to support revenue and margin gains, the record closes in the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 have room to hold; if they do not, the same names that drove the rally will set the next test for the market.
17.43 leaves the cboe volatility index near a two-week low after Thursday’s close, a sign that traders ended April with less demand for downside protection than earlier in the month. Apple’s results after the bell gave the next trading day a clear reference point: whether buyers still reward earnings beats at a time when the indexes are already pressing into record territory.
