Another Spike Helps Dow to a Winning Month

Wall Street rose again Friday on another batch of corporate profit reports that mostly topped expectations, per the AP.

• The S&P 500 rose 34 points, or 0.8%, to 4,169.
• The Dow rose 272 points, or 0.8%, to 34,098.
• The Nasdaq rose 84 points, or 0.6%, to 12,226.
• All three indexes finished up for the week, while the Dow rose more than 2% for the month and the S&P more than 1%, per CNBC. The Nasdaq dropped slightly in April.

Exxon Mobil did some of the market's heaviest lifting, rising about 2% after it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than forecast. Intel gained 3.3% after reporting a milder loss than expected and stronger revenue for the latest quarter. Mondelez International, the food giant behind Oreo and Ritz, rose 4.4% after topping Wall Street’s estimates. It also raised its forecast for revenue and earnings over the full year. They helped to offset a 3.9% drop for Amazon, which weighed heavily on the market despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than expected.

Snap tumbled 18.1% after its revenue for the latest quarter fell short of forecasts. Pinterest also fell sharply, down 17.8%, despite reporting stronger results than expected. Analysts pointed to its growth forecast for the current quarter, which looked more tepid than some expected. The majority of companies so far this reporting season have beaten expectations, but the bar was set considerably low for the first three months of the year.

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