- Stocks are on a three-day winning streak and poised to end the week higher.
- Google parent Alphabet reported 12% revenue growth for the first quarter, boosted by strength in search and advertising.
- Home sales last month notched their slowest March since 2009.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Jump around
Stocks are on a three-day winning streak and poised to end the week higher heading into Friday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 2.5% so far this week, the S&P 500 has gained 3.8% and the Nasdaq Composite has added 5.4%. That jump in the Nasdaq follows a recovery in megacap tech stocks, though they may see more turbulence ahead. “I think we’re still in for a period of choppiness around stock trading, and I think heading into next week, it’s really going to be the big tech earnings that are going to really influence where the major averages go,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise. Follow live market updates.
2. Alphabet advertising
Google parent Alphabet reported 12% revenue growth for the first quarter, boosted by strength in search and advertising. The two segments brought in $50.7 billion and $66.89 billion, respectively, up roughly 9% each from the year earlier. But Alphabet executives warned its ad business could feel the impacts of the ongoing trade war, if advertisers pull back. Sectors like retail, health care and travel helped boost Google ad revenue and are likely to face increased costs under a high-tariff scheme.
3. Center demand
In an aerial view, an Amazon Web Services data center is shown on July 17, 2024 in Stone Ridge, Virginia.
Demand for AI data centers isn’t slowing down in the face of recession fears, according to executives from Amazon and Nvidia. “We continue to see very strong demand, and we’re looking both in the next couple years as well as long term and seeing the numbers only going up,” Amazon Web Services Vice President of Global Data Centers Kevin Miller said on Thursday. Likewise, “We haven’t seen a pullback,” Nvidia Senior Director of Corporate Sustainability Josh Parker said. The comments came at a conference organized by the Hamm Institute for American Energy in Oklahoma City and run counter to recent worries that tech companies would pull back if belts get tightened.
4. Off the market
An “Open House” sign outside a home for sale in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2023.
Home sales last month notched their slowest March since 2009. Sales fell 5.9% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted 4.02 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Every region of the country saw sales declines, even as inventory rose. As of the end of last month, there were 1.33 million active listing, up nearly 20% year-over-year. “March numbers are bad,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, adding, “they’re likely to get worse.”
5. Big-ticket buying
Washing machines are seen for sale at a home improvement store in Falls Church, Virginia, February 3, 2025, following the announcement of tariffs by US President Donald Trump on important goods from Canada and Mexico.
March was the month for big-ticket purchases. Durable goods orders soared a seasonally adjusted 9.2% month over month, according to data from the Commerce Department, far surpassing the 1.6% gain that Dow Jones economists expected. In February, the measure rose less than 1% year over year. The surge is the result of a pull-forward in big buying ahead of President Donald Trump’s promised “Liberation Day” duties on April 2. An appliance bought in March was a safer bet than the same appliance subject to ever-evolving tariff rates in April.
– CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Jennifer Elias, Spencer Kimball, Diana Olick and Jeff Cox contributed to this report.