Facebook Helps Wall Street Rally; Amazon Posts Monster 1Q Surprise After Close

Facebook's (FB) blowout earnings were enough to propel markets forward for the day, but after the bell Amazon (AMZN) made serious noise when it absolutely crushed expectations, earning, in the first quarter, $3.27 per share on $51 billion in revenues for the quarter. Analysts had expected $1.27 per share on revenues of $49.96 billion. In the same quarter last year, earnings were $1.48 per share on $35.7 billion in revenue. Amazon was trading more than six percent higher in after-hours trading.

It's plain to see that Jeff Bezos of Amazon has taken internet technology and employed it to maximum capitalization. Traditional brick and mortar retailers have been failing and falling faster than the price of used shoes.

Amazon's monster quarter, combined with Friday's first estimate of first quarter GDP should be enough good news for a significant upside to close out the week. The timing could not have been better for the pushers of stock certificates, because February and March were down months for the Dow and other averages, and a third straight month of losses might have opened the selling floodgates wide.

With just two trading days remaining for the month, it's a safe bet that April will end in the black on the Dow, holding off, if only temporarily, the eventual sell-off everybody knows is coming. The Dow continues to wallow roughly 2000 points below the all-time high from January 26 (26,616.71). Expect the rally that started yesterday to continue into May, for a week or two. It should be good for 1000 Dow points at the minimum before it's exhausted. Look for pivot points upon which to place short bets, play puts or sell call options.

Dow Jones Industrial Average April Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
4/2/18	23,644.19	-458.92	-458.92
4/3/18	24,033.36	+389.17	-69.75
4/4/18	24,264.30	+230.94	+161.19
4/5/18	24,505.22	+240.92	+402.11
4/6/18	23,932.76	-572.46	-170.35
4/9/18	23,979.10	+46.34	-134.01
4/10/18	24,407.86	+428.76	+294.66
4/11/18	24,189.45	-218.55	+76.11
4/12/18	24,483.05	+293.60	+369.71
4/13/18	24,360.14	-122.91	+247.80
4/16/18	24,573.04	+212.90	+460.70
4/17/18	24,786.63	+213.59	+674.29
4/18/18	24,748.07	-38.56	+635.73
4/19/18	24,664.89	-83.18	+552.55
4/20/18	24,462.94	-201.95	+350.60
4/23/18	24,448.69	-14.25	+336.35
4/24/18	24,024.13	-424.56	-88.21
4/25/18	24,083.83	+59.70	-28.51
4/26/18	24,322.34	+238.51	+210.00

At the Close, Thursday, April 26, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,322.34, +238.51 (+0.99%)
NASDAQ: 7,118.68, +114.94 (+1.64%)
S&P 500: 2,666.94, +27.54 (+1.04%)
NYSE Composite: 12,582.90, +65.04 (+0.52%)