Dow closes more than 570 points higher to post best day in 2024, stocks wrap a winning May: Live updates (2024)

In May, companies shattered records with a surge in stock buybacks, suggesting strong corporate confidence in future earnings. A total of 154 companies announced $201 billion in planned buybacks, marking an all-time high, according to data from Birinyi Associates.

Apple led the charge, unveiling a $110 billion buyback program, the largest on record. American International Group and Lam Research each announced $10 billion buyback plans.

Backing up these announcements, companies repurchased more than $202 billion in stock during the first quarter, a figure that may increase as more data becomes available. This marks the highest quarterly total since the third quarter of 2022, when companies bought back $207 billion in shares.

— Nick Wells

The Dow and ended Friday higher in the final session of May.

The Dow climbed 1.5%, while the S&P 500 added 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite finished marginally below flat.

While all three indexes ended the week down, they all clocked gains for May.

— Alex Harring

Shares of Boeing rose nearly 2% Friday, hitting a new high of the session following Fitch Ratings' announcement that it is maintaining its rating on the company. However, Fitch lowered its 2024 forecasts for the company's aircraft deliveries and free cash flow.

In 2024, Fitch expects between 350 and 370 deliveries for the 737 Max plane and around 65 to 70 deliveries for the 787 plane. The ratings agency also expects modestly negative free cash flow during the year.

Boeing, 1-day

Boeing's Chief Financial Officer Brian West earlier this month said the company's aircraft deliveries would remain sluggish this quarter and that the company would burn about $4 billion in cash.

The company has been forced to slow production of its best-selling 737 Max planes after a door plug blew out of a Max in January, an accident that has required the company to move more slowly to stamp out defects and for stepped-up federal inspections.

— Sean Conlon, Leslie Josephs

Several retailers posted their quarterly earnings after the bell Thursday. Here is what Morgan Stanley analyst Simeon Gutman has to say about the names:

• Costco Wholesale: Gutman remains overweight on the big-box retailer and lifted his price target by $75 to $855, saying Costco is "among the best compounding growth stories in retail" with levels of growth that are rare across the sector. His target price suggests 4.9% potential upside.
• Dollar General: "We believe the upside opportunity for DG margin improvement and multiple expansion is asymmetric vs. the risk that margins stall or contract," Gutman said about the discount retailer, adding that strength in market share gains in consumable and discretionary categories should "accelerate modestly" in the second half of the year. He remains overweight with a $170 price target, implying 32.9% potential upside for shares.
• Ulta Beauty: A weaker beauty backdrop and moderating merchandise margins contributed to the firm's decision to lower its price target on Ulta by $35 to $490, which suggests shares have 27% potential upside, still. That target is "warranted given maturing square footage growth, normalizing comps, and near-term margin contraction," Gutman said.

— Pia Singh

A Commerce Department report Friday showing a pullback in consumer spending in April led to sharp downgrades for economic growth in the second quarter.

The department reported that consumer spending slowed to a 0.2% increase for the month, down from 0.7% the prior month. Adjusted for inflation, real spending declined 0.1%.

Subsequently, Goldman Sachs cut its Q2 gross domestic product tracking to a growth rate of 2.8%, down 0.4 percentage points from the previous estimate. Similarly, the Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow tracker put growth at a 2.7% pace, down 0.8 percentage points from the last update a week ago.

Both cited the weaker spending data as a primary driver behind the downgrades. Earlier this week, the Commerce Department reduced its figure for Q1 growth down to 1.3%, a 0.3% cut from the initial estimate.

— Jeff Cox

The major averages are on pace to end this week in the red, breaking a multiweek win streak. The S&P 500 has posted its worst two-day performance in four weeks as of Thursday, according to Deutsche Bank. Nevertheless, Jim Reid, head of global economics and thematic research, says not to get too bearish yet.

"The last few days have been the first for some time where good economic data (Tuesday) was a reason for markets to sell-off, and then weaker economic data (yesterday) was also seen as a reason for markets to sell-off. In recent times, both good and bad data have managed to build a bullish narrative, as bad data has been seen to raise the likelihood of rate cuts," Reid said.

"Having said that, the sell-off this week remains pretty mild and the S&P 500 is only -1.6% beneath its record from last week, so it's hard to get too excited about a new trend emerging," Reid noted.

The negative revisions to consumer spending data have underscored the notion that the U.S. economy may have lost some of its momentum from the start of 2024, said Reid.

— Hakyung Kim

A combination of hawkish sentiment from Federal Reserve officials, forecast pressure in the commercial real estate market and a discouraging Treasury auction were pressure points for the equities market in the final week of May, according to Wells Fargo equity analyst Christopher Harvey.

Moving forward, he expects more turbulence on Wall Street while dynamics surrounding the 2024 election will remain a looming potential game changer for the market.

"[W]ithout a near-term catalyst stocks will continue to 'chop around,'" Harvey wrote in a Friday note. "Politics remain a wild card."

He expects the S&P 500 to reach the 5,535 level by the end of 2024, or roughly 6% above the index's current support level.

— Brian Evans

This has been a better month for stocks than it has been historically.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up around 1.2% for the month, and the is up around 3.6%. This is better than the average May performance for the indexes from January 1950 to April 2022. For that period, the Dow averaged a 0.01% decline in the month of May, while the S&P averaged a 0.2% increase, according to data from the Stock Trader's Almanac.

This year's May performance is also better than last year's for both indexes, as the Dow closed out last May down 3.49%, and the S&P closed up slightly at 0.25%.

—Sean Conlon

Boston Beer shares surged after The Wall Street Journal reported that it is in talks to sell itself to Japanese whisky maker Suntory.

Trading on the stock resumed after being halted around 6% during Friday's session. Shares of the stock rose further to around 24%.

Both parties are in early talks, and a deal has yet to be finalized. Boston Beer's market cap is more than $3 billion.

Boston Beer, 1-day

Molson Coors shares were also higher following the news, with the stock popping around 2.4%.

— Sean Conlon

The battle between Exxon and Chevron over oil assets in Guyana could decide which oil majors' stock ends up on top this year, according to Kevin Holt, portfolio manager at the Invesco Energy Fund.

Chevron shares have underperformed Exxon and the energy sector this year due in part to uncertainty surrounding its pending acquisition of Hess Corporation, Holt said. The merger would make Chevron a player in Guyana through Hess' 30% stake in a massive offshore oil patch called the Stabroek Block.

But Exxon is acting as a spoiler, hauling Chevron and Hess before an arbitration court to defend its claims to a right of first refusal.

"If Chevron and Hess win the arbitration, I think Chevron will outperform Exxon in the second half of the year, assuming that you get a ruling in the second half of the year," Holt said.

— Spencer Kimball

U.S. crude oil on Friday finished out its worst month of the year, ahead of an OPEC+ meeting this weekend during which the cartel will review its production levels.

U.S. oil finished May down 6% in its worst performance since November, while global benchmark Brent fell 7.1% this month.

OPEC+ members on Sunday are expected to review voluntary output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day. Three OPEC+ delegates told CNBC those cuts will likely be prolonged.

"We see no appetite at this juncture to add more barrels to the market and trigger another price move to the downside," Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told clients in a note Wednesday.

— Spencer Kimball

Salesforce bounced on Friday, but still headed for its worst week in more than a decade.

Shares rallied around 5% on Friday, regaining some ground after tumbling 19.7% in a postearnings sell-off on Thursday. Thursday's tumble marked the technology stock's worst session since 2004.

Even with Friday's gains, shares are still down nearly 16% on the week. If that holds through the closing bell, it will be Salesforce's worst week since August 2011, when shares dived more than 17%.

Salesforce, 5-day

Even with today's 1% drop, it has been a very good month for the Nasdaq Composite. The index has rallied more than 5% in May, outperforming the by more than 2 percentage points. That's the strongest outperformance by the Nasdaq in a given month since May of last year.

The Nasdaq is also the only major average that has completely erased April's steep losses. It is up about 1% quarter to date, while the S&P 500 is still nearly 1% lower. The Dow has severely underperformed in May, up just 1%, and it remains nearly 4% or 1,500 points lower for the quarter.

Moderna, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Netflix are all among some of the Nasdaq's top performers this month, with strong double-digit gains.

— Robert Hum

Energy and consumer discretionary names in the have lagged in May.

These are the only two of the 11 that comprise the broad index tracking to end the month in the red. By comparison, the S&P 500 as a whole is poised to finish more than 3% higher.

The energy sector has slipped more than 1.5% this month. ConocoPhillips and EOG Resources led the sector lower, dropping more than 7% and 6%, respectively, in May.

Consumer discretionary, meanwhile, is on pace to finish May 0.7% lower. Expedia was the worst performer in the sector, dropping more than 17% over the month. Lululemon and Norwegian Cruise Line were the next-biggest losers, tumbling more than 13% each.

On the other hand, information technology was the best-performing sector so far in May with a jump of more than 8%. First Solar led the sector higher with a surge of more than 51% in the month.

— Alex Harring

Chip stocks are sliding to end the week.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down more than 3% in afternoon trading. The Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXQ) was also down more than 3%.

Chip stocks were under pressure on Friday.

Nvidia is partially to blame, but the chip giant was down less than the broader funds. KLA Corporation was underperforming many of its large chipmaker peers, falling 4%.

— Jesse Pound

MongoDB shares plummeted roughly 25% after the technology company trimmed its second-quarter guidance as well as its 2025 fiscal-year forecast, putting the stock on pace to close its worst day since 2022 and second-worst day ever.

MongoDB, 1-day

MongoDB said it expected to earn 46 cents to 49 cents per share on $460 million to $464 million of revenue, far lower than LSEG's call for $470 million of revenue and earnings of 58 cents per share. The company surpassed earnings and revenue expectations for the April quarter, but still saw slower-than-expected consumption growth.

The stock has only ever seen a bigger one-day drop on Sept. 1, 2022, when it tumbled 25.3%.

Shares have dived nearly 43% in 2024.

— Pia Singh

Shares of Dell Technologies plummeted nearly 22% on Friday, putting the stock on pace for its worst trading day ever.

Traders sent the stock lower after the company announced that its artificial intelligence server backlog was lower than expected, which could potentially squeeze its margins. However, Dell still posted fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations.

The 21.8% decline puts the stock on track for its worst trading day in its history. Dell fell 21.6% on a single day in December 2018, marking its biggest one-day loss so far.

Dell, 1-day

These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:

• Gap— The clothing retailer soared 26% after posting fiscal first-quarter earnings per share of 41 cents, higher than the 14 cents analysts surveyed by LSEG had expected.
• MongoDB— Shares plummeted nearly 25% after the technology company trimmed its second-quarter guidance as well as its forecast for the full fiscal year.
• Dell Technologies— The software stock plunged 22% after executives cautioned that its gross margins could face more pressure in 2025.

Read the full list of stocks moving here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Costco's Gary Millerchip is seeing a rebound in lower-priced discretionary goods as consumers continue to feel the effects of inflation.

"As inflation has leveled off, our members are returning to purchasing more discretionary items, and growth in the category was led by toys, tires, lawn & garden and health and beauty aids," the company's new chief financial officer said on an earnings call with analysts. He also told CNN that the chain's $1.50 price tag for a hot dog is "safe."

Costco reported fiscal third-quarter earnings Thursday after the bell that exceeded Wall Street's expectations. The company posted earnings of $3.78 per share and revenue of $58.52 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $3.70 a share and revenue of $58.07 billion, according to LSEG.

The stock fell 2% during Friday's session.

Costco, 1-day

The Dow was able to sidestep the broader market's slide on Friday.

The blue-chip average traded up about 0.1% in late morning trading. Meanwhile, the benchmark slipped around 0.5% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 1%.

The Dow vs. S&P 500, 1-day

UnitedHealth Group was the Dow's best performer in the session, adding more than 2%. Disney and Merck were the next-biggest gainers, with each up about 1.5%.

Big Tech stocks Amazon and Microsoft were the biggest laggards. Amazon slipped 2.6%, while Microsoft dropped nearly 2%.

— Alex Harring

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) headed for its worst week since 2022.

The exchange-traded fund has dropped more than 6% so far this week. If that holds through Friday's close, it will mark the worst weekly performance since November 2022, when it slid more than 10%.

UiPath, SentinelOne, Nutanix, Salesforce, GitLab and ServiceNow all weighed down the fund this week with declines of more than 12%.

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Business activity in the Chicago region hit its lowest level since November 2022 in April, according to a report Friday from the Institute for Supply Management.

The Chicago Business Barometer slid to 37.9 on the month, down 3.5 points from March and below the Dow Jones estimate for 41.1. Declines in new orders, production and employment, which hit the lowest level since February 2023, led the move lower. There was some bad news on inflation, with the prices paid index hitting its highest since August 2023.

The index measures the percentage of companies reporting expansion, so anything below 50 indicates contraction.

— Jeff Cox

The dollar index hit a session low of 104.413 Friday morning, marking its lowest level since May 28.

This means that the dollar index, which gauges the dollar's value against a basket of other currencies, traded below its 200-day moving average level of 104.433. The metric has not closed below its 200-day moving average since March 20.

On a week-to-date basis, the dollar index is now down 0.21%, and on pace for its second negative week in three. The metric has slipped 1.6% on a monthly basis, putting it on pace for its first negative month in five.

— Lisa Kailai Han, Gina Francolla

The three major indexes opened higher on Friday.

The Dow traded up by about 0.1% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2%.

— Alex Harring

These are some of the companies making notable moves in premarket trading:

• Dell Technologies— Stock in the personal computer and technology company slid more than 16% after executives warned about further margin pressure ahead. The company posted a first-quarter earnings beat on the top and bottom lines, but forecasts its gross margin will pull back roughly 150 basis points in 2025.
• Lionsgate Studios— Shares soared 11% after Citiinitiatedcoverage of the film studio company with a buy rating. Analyst Jason Bazinet said the company's decision to spin off its Starz segment could help Lionsgate further expand margins moving forward.
• Zscaler— The cloud security stock popped more than 16% after Zscaler beat analysts' expectations for its fiscal third-quarter earnings and revenue. The company posted adjusted earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $553 million, while analysts had expected earnings per share of 66 cents on $536 million in revenue, according to LSEG.

Read the full list here.

— Brian Evans

The core personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed's preferred inflation metric — rose 0.2% in April, matching a Dow Jones consensus estimate. Year over year, the benchmark advanced 2.8%. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected core PCE to have risen 2.7% in April on a year-over-year basis.

— Fred Imbert

Friday's closing bell marks the end of the trading week and month. The three major indexes are on track to end the week with losses, but finish May higher than where they started.

The and Nasdaq Composite have both slipped more than 1% this week, on pace to snap five-week winning streaks. The Dow has lost nearly 2.5%, which would mark its second straight negative week.

Despite those losses, the Dow and S&P 500 are still poised to finish the month with 0.8% and 4% in gains, respectively. The Nasdaq is almost 7% higher, which would be its best monthly performance since November 2023.

— Alex Harring

Inflation in the euro zone rose to 2.6% in May, exceeding a Reuters forecast of 2.4%. That said, investors in the region still expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates in June.

The Stoxx 600 index was flat on the day, while the German Dax and France's CAC 40 slipped 0.2% each.

Europe's inflation reading comes ahead of the core personal consumption expenditures price index release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The report, which is the Fed's preferred U.S. inflation metric, is expected to have risen 2.7% in April on a year-over-year basis.

— Fred Imbert

European markets opened slightly higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session as investors await fresh inflation data.

The regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.01% in early deals, with most sectors and major bourses in the green. Telecoms and insurance stocks led gains, both up around 0.4%, while tech fell 0.8%.

Stoxx 600.

Official data from China showed its manufacturing sector unexpectedly contracted in May.

The manufacturing purchasing managers index came in at 49.5, from 50.4 in April. The reading is below a Reuters poll forecast of 50.4.

The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction.

The PMI reading arrives after data earlier in the week showed China's industrialprofits rose 4.3% year on yearin the JanuarytoAprilperiod.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Core inflation in Japan's capital city of Tokyorose 1.9% in May, more than the 1.6% increase in April.

The reading for May was in line with Reuters poll expectations.

Tokyo's inflation figures are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

Separately, Japan's industrial output figures showed a surprise 0.1% fall in April from the previous month, against a Reuters poll forecast for a 0.9% rise.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Official data showed South Korea's industrial production rose in April, compared to a fall in the previous month.

The industrial production index rose 2.2% in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, after falling 3% in March.

The figure also beat a Reuters poll expectation of a 1.1% month-on-month rise.

South Korea's retail sales index fell by 1.2% month-on-month in April, and 2.6% from the same period last year.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading:

• Zscaler— Shares surged nearly 15% after Zscaler topped third-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines. The cloud security company posted adjusted quarterly earnings of 88 cents per share on revenue of $553 million. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings per share of 66 cents on revenue of $536 million.
• MongoDB— MongoDB tumbled 23% after the developer data platform issued second-quarter and full-year guidance that wasweaker than expected, even as its first-quarter earnings results exceeded expectations.
• Dell Technologies— The tech stock plunged more than 14% even afterDell beat expectations in its first-quarter results. Dell posted adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.27 per share on revenue of $22.24 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings per share of $1.26 on revenue of $21.64 billion.

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

Stock futures opened lower Thursday night.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 35 points, or 0.09%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.12% and 0.19%, respectively.

— Sarah Min