U.S. equities ripped to fresh record highs by Friday midday, with a runaway semiconductor rally and a much hotter-than-expected April jobs report drowning out the steady drumbeat of headlines from the Strait of Hormuz.

• Micron Technology stock is challenging resistance. Why did MU hit a new high?

The Nasdaq 100 led the charge, jumping 1.6% to a new all-time high above 29,000, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to near 7,400 points and the Dow held narrowly in the green.

For the tech-heavy indices, it is shaping up to be a sixth straight week of gains, with stocks rallying more than 30% from their March lows.

Micron Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) continued to steal the spotlight. The memory-linked chipmaker rallied 13.5% on the session, pushing week-to-date gains to 35%, the stock’s best week since December 2008.

Peer SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) soared in sympathy, up 13%, pushing its year-to-date to a whopping 450%.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was awaiting Tehran’s response Friday to a U.S. proposal to end the conflict, even as both sides exchanged fire near Hormuz overnight. 

Crude clawed back a slice of the week’s losses. WTI rose 1.2% to $95.91 a barrel, while Brent added 1.3% to $101.39. Both benchmarks are still down around 6% on the week.

The standout macro print was nonfarm payrolls: the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, nearly double the 62,000 consensus, with the unemployment rate steady at 4.3% and wage growth a touch below expectations at 0.2% month-over-month.

The University of Michigan’s preliminary May Consumer Sentiment Index, by contrast, slumped to a record low of 48.2, with one-year inflation expectations easing slightly from 4.7% to 4.5%.

The mixed macro mosaic kept the Federal Reserve on the sidelines. Markets continue to expect the Fed to hold rates through year-end, while pricing in roughly a 40% chance of a hike by April 2027. 

Friday’s Performance In Major U.S. Indices

Index	Last	% Change
S&P 500	7,395.08	+0.79%
Dow Jones	49,649.50	+0.11%
Nasdaq 100	29,011.35	+1.57%
Russell 2000	2,853.47	+0.49%

According to the Benzinga Pro platform:

• The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) rose 0.8%.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) edged up 0.1%.
• The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) climbed 1.6%.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) rallied 0.5%.

Semis Detonate, Software Stumbles As Earnings Reshuffle The Tape

Sector leadership was unambiguously tech-flavored. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) ripped 2.6% to fresh highs, miles ahead of every other group. 

Over the past six weeks, the XLK ETF has rallied 34%, the best six-week run on record, outpacing every comparable stretch of the dot-com era.

On the laggard side, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) slipped 0.7% as biotech and managed-care names underperformed.

Industry leadership reflected the same risk-on tilt. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) and the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) both surged on outsized moves in Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), +7.9%; QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), +9.3%, Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), +7.4% and Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), +5.5%.

By contrast, the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (BATS:IGV) and the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund (NASDAQ:FDN) were dragged lower by ugly post-earnings moves in Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET) and HubSpot Inc. (NYSE:HUBS).

Friday’s Earnings Movers

Biggest earnings winners were Innodata Inc. (NASDAQ:INOD), soaring 77% on strong AI-related demand and a massive EPS beat, Rocket Lab Corp. (NASDAQ:RKLB), up 27% on record revenue and upbeat guidance, JFrog Ltd. (NASDAQ:FROG), gaining 24% after topping estimates, Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ:SYNA) and Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM), both rallying about 20% on strong results and guidance, while Texas Roadhouse Inc. (NASDAQ:TXRH) climbed 15%, Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ:MNST) gained 15%, Dropbox Inc. (NASDAQ:DBX) rose 13%, Willdan Group Inc. (NASDAQ:WLDN) added 12% and Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE:RKT) advanced 10%.

Smaller gains were seen in BILL Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BILL), Block Inc. (NYSE:XYZ), DraftKings Inc. (NASDAQ:DKNG), IREN Ltd. (NASDAQ:IREN), Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM), Airbnb Inc. (NASDAQ:ABNB) and Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT).

On the downside, Cloudflare tumbled 23% despite beating estimates after announcing layoffs tied to an AI-first strategy, while Upwork Inc. (NASDAQ:UPWK) and HubSpot each fell more than 20% on weak guidance.

Other sharp decliners included Toast Inc. (NYSE:TOST), down 15%, CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV), down 14%, MercadoLibre Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI), down 12%, SoundHound AI Inc. (NASDAQ:SOUN) and Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE:MSI), both lower by about 11%.

Other stocks moving on earnings included:

• Expedia Group Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) fell 7% despite a 56.8% EPS beat and revenue topping estimates by 2.3%, as weak travel commentary weighed.
• NuScale Power Corp. (NYSE:SMR) dropped 6.4% after revenue missed estimates by nearly 90%.
• The Trade Desk Inc. (NASDAQ:TTD) slid 6.3% as guidance disappointed despite a revenue beat.
• Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (NASDAQ:AAOI) fell 6.4% after a revenue miss and quarterly loss.
• Opendoor Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN) declined 5.9% despite revenue beating estimates by 8%.
• Main Street Capital Corp. (NYSE:MAIN) lost 5.9% after revenue missed estimates by 3.6%.
• Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ:WYNN) fell 5.4% despite beating on earnings and revenue.
• Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) slid 3.3% as soft guidance overshadowed results.
• Affirm Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:AFRM) dropped 3.1% after EPS missed estimates by 52%.
• Red Cat Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:RCAT) slipped 2.9% after revenue missed estimates by 17.7%.
• Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) fell 2.5% despite an EPS beat.
• MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) dropped 2.3% despite revenue beating estimates by 20%.
• McKesson Corp. (NYSE:MCK) fell 2.1% after revenue missed estimates by 5.1%.
• Republic Services Inc. (NYSE:RSG) edged 0.4% lower after an in line quarter.
• Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) slipped 0.3% after revenue missed Wall Street estimates.

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