Nasdaq Jumps 200 Points; US Adds 115,000 Jobs In April

U.S. stocks traded higher this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining more than 200 points on Friday.

Following the market opening Friday, the Dow traded up 0.20% to 49,695.04 while the NASDAQ gained 0.82% to 26,016.59. The S&P 500 also rose, gaining, 0.50% to 7,373.60.

Leading and Lagging Sectors

Information technology shares jumped by 1.5% on Friday.

In trading on Friday, energy stocks fell by 0.7%.

Top Headline

U.S. nonfarm payrolls defied expectations in April, with total employment edging up by 115,000 jobs to comfortably beat the FactSet consensus estimate of a 65,000 rise. Despite the stronger-than-expected job growth, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%.

On the inflation front, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $37.41, bringing the annual wage increase to 3.6%.

Equities Trading UP
           

• Phoenix Asia Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:PHOE) shares shot up 128% to $43.50. The company recently announced a $1 billion stock acquisition agreement to acquire clinical-stage pharmaceutical firm ACEA Pharma Inc., marking a dramatic pivot from its construction roots into oncology and autoimmune drug development.
• Shares of Innodata Inc (NASDAQ:INOD) got a boost, surging 91% to $87.10 after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter financial results and issued FY26 sales guidance above estimates.
• Antelope Enterprise Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:AEHL) shares were also up, gaining 85% to $0.94. Antelope Enterprise announced $190,000 realized gain from “Genius Plan” for managing Bitcoin treasury reserves and announced $95,000 share buyback effective June 6.

Equities Trading DOWN

• Artivion, Inc. (NYSE:AORT) shares dropped 33% to $23.68 after the company reported first-quarter financial results and cut its FY26 sales guidance with its midpoint below estimates.
• Shares of AIM ImmunoTech Inc. (NYSE:AIM) were down 34% to $0.3671. AIM ImmunoTech announced exercise of warrants for approximately $4.2 million in gross proceeds.
• Kodiak AI, Inc. (NASDAQ:KDK) was down, falling 33% to $6.10 after the company reported first-quarter financial results. The company announced a $100 million common stock and warrant private placement.

Commodities

In commodity news, oil traded down 0.3% to $94.50 while gold traded up 0.8% at $4,750.60.

Silver traded up 2.1% to $81.885 on Friday, while copper rose 1.9% to $6.2930.

Euro zone

European shares were lower today. The eurozone's STOXX 600 declined 0.4%, while Spain's IBEX 35 Index fell 0.5%. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, Germany's DAX fell 0.9%, while France's CAC 40 declined 0.7%.

Asia Pacific Markets

Asian markets closed lower on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 falling 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declining 0.87%, China's Shanghai Composite falling 0.003% and India's BSE Sensex falling 0.66%

Economics

• U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 115,000 jobs to comfortably beat the FactSet consensus estimate of a 65,000 rise.
• The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.3%.

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