Stock Markets Hit Record Highs as Apple Earnings Spark Tech Rally

Apple Powers Market Surge with Stellar Quarterly Performance

Apple shares jumped more than 3% Friday after the iPhone maker's better-than-expected quarterly results , providing the primary catalyst for a broad-based market rally that sent major indices to fresh record highs. The tech giant posted quarterly revenue of $111.2 billion, up 17 percent year over year, with diluted earnings per share of $2.01, up 22 percent year over year . That's up from the EPS of $1.65 and $95.35 billion the company saw in the same quarter last year .

CEO Tim Cook called it Apple's "best March quarter ever, with revenue of $111.2 billion and double-digit growth across every geographic segment," driven by "extraordinary demand for the iPhone 17 lineup" . Apple CFO Kevan Parekh noted that "The iPhone 17 family is now the most popular line-up in our history... we believe we gained market share during the quarter" .

The consumer electronics giant earned $2.01 a share on sales of $111.2 billion in the quarter, while analysts polled by FactSet had expected Apple earnings of $1.95 a share on sales of $109.5 billion . Apple's board also authorized an additional $100 billion for share repurchases and declared an increased dividend payment of $0.27 per share, up from $0.26 per share .

Markets Reach Historic Milestones Despite Mixed Performance

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite picked up 0.9% to close above 25,000 for the first time, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite hit record closing highs Friday . The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 0.3%, despite Apple making a robust move higher, while the S&P 500 locked in a gain of 0.3% .

For April, the S&P 500 soared 10.4%, its largest one-month percentage gain since November 2020, while the Nasdaq's 15.3% jump was its biggest monthly increase since April 2020, and the Dow finished April higher by 7.1%, its largest one-month rise since November 2024 . Faith in Big Tech has been stoked by a run of "Magnificent Seven" earnings reports this week, which have fueled optimism about the AI demand boom .

The "Magnificent Seven" stocks closed out the week split, with Alphabet, Apple, and Tesla as the outperformers, while Nvidia and Meta capped a week of losses . The stock market touched fresh highs after a wave of tech earnings showed the AI trade is still intact .

Mixed Results for Other Major Earnings

SanDisk stock fell 5%, putting it on track to snap a rally that drove the stock to record highs heading into earnings, despite the memory chip giant reporting strong earnings results with beats across the board, but expectations were lofty, as the stock has surged over 360% year to date, leading some investors to lock in profits . Revenue of $5.95 billion increased from $4.72 billion, and the company's adjusted earnings of $23.41 per share sailed past Wall Street expectations of $14.51, with SanDisk seeing fourth quarter revenue in the range of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion, above a consensus estimate of $6.65 billion .

Roblox stock plummeted more than 23% Friday after the company's mixed first-quarter results included a weaker-than-expected total in daily active users and a 2026 cut in its outlook . Moderna stock jumped 7% in premarket trading after better-than-expected COVID-19 vaccine sales internationally helped boost the company's first quarter revenue .

US oil supermajors Exxon Mobil and Chevron both beat estimates on earnings but missed on revenue as stymied production throughout the Middle East and oil deliveries stuck behind the Strait of Hormuz weighed on energy sales .

Broader Market Implications and Future Outlook

Strong first-quarter corporate earnings and hopes that tensions in the Middle East will ease have pushed markets higher through 2026, and although the U.S.-Iran war caused an early setback, all three major indexes have recovered and are now well above where they started the year . Investors fielded the latest results in a first quarter earnings season that is proving resilient so far .

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