FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

US Equity Indexes Close Mixed as Earnings Lift Technology While Trump 'Not Happy' With Iran Peace Plan

By

-- US equity indexes were mixed on Friday as earnings helped lift technology and communication services, while President Donald Trump expressed displeasure with Iran's revised peace proposal.

The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.9% to 25,114.44, albeit off session highs. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 7,230.12, also retreating from intraday highs. Both indexes hit new records earlier in the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 49,499.27, giving up gains.

All sectors except technology and consumer discretionary fell. Energy and materials led the decliners.

Iran handed Washington a new proposal for ending the war, offering hints of compromise, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. But the two sides remain far apart on substantive issues of reopening the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ.

"They want to make a deal, but I'm not satisfied with it," Trump told reporters at the White House, according to Bloomberg. "We just had a conversation with Iran. Let's see what happens. But I would say that I am not happy."

Separately, Trump notified Congress on Friday that hostilities against Iran ended in April, reflected by an indefinite extension of the two-week ceasefire, allowing the White House to bypass a 60-day deadline for lawmakers to approve the war, according to the WSJ.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures remained lower, down 3% to $102.07 late Friday. Brent crude futures were also lower by 2% to $108.45.

In precious metals, gold futures slipped 0.1% to $4,623.7, while silver futures jumped 2.7% to $76.02.

US Treasury yields were mixed, with the 10-year 1.6 basis points lower to 4.37%. The two-year yield was slightly higher at 3.89%.

In company news, Apple (AAPL) jumped 3.2%, the Dow's second-biggest gainer, after the iPhone manufacturer overnight reported a year-over-year surge in fiscal Q2 earnings and revenue. Apple's board also raised its quarterly dividend and approved a share buyback program of up to $100 billion.

In the final leg of trading, Oracle (ORCL), Intel (INTC), and Micron Technology (MU) led the outperformers among companies with a market capitalization of more than $200 billion, according to data compiled by Finviz. In the top 10 gainers from this category, half were either software or semiconductor companies.

In economic news, the Atlanta Federal Reserve's Q2 gross domestic product Nowcast came in at 3.5%, down from 3.7% previously estimated.

The Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index was unchanged in April at 52.7, below the 53.2 reading expected in a Bloomberg survey. The S&P Global US manufacturing index for April was revised upwards to 54.5 from the flash 54.0, compared with expectations for no revision in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.

Related Articles

Research

Research Alert: CFRA Maintains Hold Rating On Shares Of Moderna, Inc. After Q1 Earnings

CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:After reviewing Q1 results, we up our target to $48 from $39, based on our NPV analysis. We widen our 2026 LPS view to -$7.95 from -$7.16 and keep our 2027 LPS view at -$4.82. MRNA reported a strong Q1, exceeding revenue expectations and demonstrating significant Y/Y growth. During the analyst call, management highlighted key regulatory approvals in Europe for its respiratory vaccine portfolio and oncology pipeline advancements, which we find encouraging. Despite a GAAP net loss widened by a one-time litigation settlement, underlying financial discipline and cost reduction efforts are noteworthy. Yet, revenue guidance for Q2 is relatively low at $50M-$100M (CFRA: $92M), which points to a 65%-30% Y/Y deceleration (CFRA: 35%) but also signals a significant swing Q/Q after the company recorded $153M in sales in Q1. While we think the progress in the oncology pipeline with the partnership with Merck & Co. (MRK 112 ****) is promising and progressing well, we continue to view MRNA as a wait and see story.

$MRNA
Research

Research Alert: CFRA Maintains Hold Rating On Shares Of Ge Healthcare Technologies Inc.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:We lower our target to $65 from $87, based on 11.8x our 2027 EPS estimate of $5.51, a sharp discount to the stock's average forward P/E of 18.1x. We cut our 2026 adjusted EPS estimate to $4.86 from $4.96, which stands at the lower end of the reduced guidance range of $4.80-$5.00 (vs. previous $4.95-$5.15). GEHC achieved Q1 organic revenue growth of 2.9% Y/Y, which was at the high end of its expectations. Yet profitability metrics were disappointing with adjusted EPS of $0.99 missing expectations, and the adjusted EBIT margin declining 150 bps Y/Y. This was primarily due to a discrete supplier issue in the PDx business and an unexpected increase in inflationary costs. As a result, GEHC lowered its profit and cash flow outlook, which we view as a prudent move. Strategically, we think GEHC is advancing a strong innovation pipeline, has completed the acquisition of Intelerad, and has announced a reorganization to combine its Imaging and AVS segments into a new segment, which has the potential to accelerate growth.

$GEHC
Research

Research Alert: CFRA Maintains Hold Rating On Shares Of Lennox International Inc.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:We raise our 12-month target to $569 from $559, 21.4x our 2027 EPS estimate (down to $26.57 from $26.62; our 2026 estimate down to $24.14 from $24.51), near LII's three- and five-year historical forward averages of 21.9x and 20.6x, respectively. We think LII faces material near-term operational challenges from residential market softness, escalating tariff-driven cost inflation (~5% vs. prior ~2.5% guidance), and margin compression in its Home Comfort Solutions segment (390-bp decline to 13.3% in Q1). However, these concerns are substantially mitigated by the Building Climate Solutions segment's exceptional performance (38% revenue growth, 300-bp margin expansion to 19.7% in Q1), significantly improved operating cash flow ($16.1M vs. -$35.8M Y/Y) due to inventory normalization. We note an antitrust class action lawsuit, filed in March, alleging price-fixing among HVAC equipment manufacturers since January 2020, posing an additional risk to LII's financial and reputational standing.

$LII