The 3 major US stock indices closed higher today and this week. The gains were led by the NASDAQ on both measures.

A summary of the day shows:

• Dow Industrial Average rose 450.02 points or 1.18% at 38675.69
• S&P index rose 63.61 points or 1.26% at 5127.80
• NASDAQ index rose 315.37 points or 1.99% at 16156.33

For the trading week:

• Dow Industrial Average average rose 1.14%
• S&P index rose 0.55%
• NASDAQ index rose 1.43%

Looking at the small-cap Russell 2000, it rose 0.97% for the day, and also closed higher for the week by 1.684%.

Looking at the daily chart of the S&P index, it is closing just below its 50-day moving average at 5129.98. Getting above that moving average is needed to increase the bullish bias from a technical perspective (see chart below).

For the NASDAQ index, it get above its 50-day moving average today and stayed above that moving average. That is more bullish technically.

For the trading week what major stocks had great weeks?

• Beyond Meat +26.56% (they announce earnings next week)
• Moderna, +15.77%
• Trump Media +15.38% (that despite the issuance of a more stock that was given to former Pres. Trump.)
• Amgen, +15.32%
• Snap +11.68%
• Pfizer +9.61%
• Roblox, +9.08% (they announce next week).
• Qualcomm +8.44% (they announced earnings this week)
• Apple +8.30%
• Tesla +7.64%
• Boeing, +7.50%
• Shopify 4.40% (they announce next week)
• Celcius 3.76% (they announce next week)
• Amazon, +3.69%
• Palantir (they announce next week)

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

Most of the large cap stocks have now announced their earnings with Apple being the latest. Nevertheless, the biggest one of all (at least in this cycle) is ahead with Nvidia still on the calendar to announce, but not until May 22nd.

Although most of the large influencers are now done, what are the some of the major releases next week?

Monday, May 6

• Berckshire Hathaway
• Palantir *
• Lucid *

Tuesday, May 7

• Walt Disney
• celsius
• Crocs
• Ferrari
• BP
• Rivian *
• Upstart *
• Wynn *
• Lyft*
• Twilio *
• Toast *

Wednesday, May 8

• Uber
• Shopify
• Toyota
• Arm Holding *
• AirBNB *
• Beyond Meat *

Thursday, May 9

• Roblox
• Warner Bros. discovery
• Marathon oil
• Unity Software

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.

May is normally the strongest month for crude oil but it certainly hasn’t started out that way.

WTI crude fell another 57-cents today to bring the weekly decline to $5.50 in five straight days of selling. The weekly chart is set to post the lowest close since the week ending March 8 while the daily chart has traced out a head-and-shoulders top.

The measured target of the move is $74.

Some of the geopolitical risks are coming out of oil with reports that a ceasefire in Gaza is possible this weekend. There’s also a report about a security deal between the US and Saudi Arabia. You have to wonder if part of that deal would involve bringing back some barrels ahead of the US election.

Talk has begun to circulate about the June 1 OPEC+ decision on extending quotas beyond the end of June. The consenus is for no change and that’s what the early leaks show but it’s still very early and OPEC is tough to predict. The chance of more barrels will lead to some position squaring among longs, which have gotten a bit crowded on the way up.

Finally, economic growth signals are mixed. Today’s non-farm payrolls data and softer ISM services show the US could be slowing but at the same time there are mounting signs that China’s economy is picking up.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.