Gains and Losses in the Balance as Wild Week Comes to an End; Stocks Are Higher; Gold, Silver Soaring; Oil Slumps

As might be expected, following Wednesday's record gains, stocks are looking at a very solid week, despite traders opting to give some of those gains back on Thursday.

Through Thursday's close, the Dow enters Friday holding onto a massive 1278-point advance (3.38%). The NASDAQ is up 5.13%, or, 799.52 points, while the S&P has added 193 points (3.82%).

Friday's pre-market focus falls on bank earnings and March PPI, all of which registered positively with market-watchers.

The BLS released March PPI data an hour prior to the opening bell, and, like it's counterpart CPI, which showed inflation reversing course, final demand decreased 0.4 percent, seasonally adjusted, with the bulk of the drop in the goods sector (-0.9%). Services fell 0.2%. The annualized increase came in at 2.7%.

Core PPI, defined as less foods, energy, and trade services edged up 0.1 percent in March after increasing 0.4 percent in each of the previous three months. These figures registered positively, sending stock futures higher, though not by a great deal.

Reporting first quarter earnings Friday morning were JP Morgan (JPM), which beat expectations for the first quarter by nearly 10%, with an EPS of $5.07. Morgan Stanley reported net revenues of $17.7 Billion and EPS of $2.60, both of which topped estimates and were positive compared to the year-ago first quarter.

Wells Fargo (WFC) announced EPS of $1.40, beating expectations. Pre-market trading had Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley down slightly with JPM up about two percent.

BlackRock (BLK) also beat, with EPS of $11.30, but the stock was headed lower prior to the opening bell by less than one percent.

Overall, a positive tone prevailed, sending stock futures higher. Dow futures gained 150 points at 9:00 am ET. NASDAQ futures were up 40 to 50 points and S&P futures gained 12 points. However, futures began to decline as the open approached, likely due to the continuing chaos concerning tariff struggles with China, spoiling the party for the banking sector and possibly the rest of the market.

The general mood is cautious with equal amounts of optimism and pessimism clouding consensus. With earnings season hitting full stride over the next three weeks, the early indications from some of the nation's largest financial institutions should provide a solid backdrop, though the tariff confusion hangs over the market like an ominous dark cloud.

Investors need clarity on the issues with China, but it appears that negotiations with America's largest trading partner might take quite some time to reach any reasonable compromise. For now, neither side is budging from established positions, with both continuing to add to tariff levels and harangue the other side.

While stock futures were losing steam, overnight, gold and silver were bid higher, with gold reaching a record level at $3,251 and rising. Silver had been lagging after its massive smackdown below $30 last week, though it has begun to gain ground at an accelerating pace. The gold:silver ratio over 100 continues to suggest silver is the buy.

Crude oil was flat, with WTI at $60/barrel. Bitcoin overcame earlier weakness, rallying to nearly $83,000 early Friday, but pulling back from that level.

The week's conclusion could be just about any flavor, though the real winner appears to be gold, which has gone from $2,973 to $3,250 just this week.

Are you not amused?

At the Close, Thursday, April 10, 2025:
Dow: 39,593.66, -1,014.79 (-2.50%)
NASDAQ: 16,387.31, -737.66 (-4.31%)
S&P 500: 5,268.05, -188.85 (-3.46%)
NYSE Composite: 17,890.57, -507.90 (-2.76%)