Roundup: U.S. stocks rally amid earnings, economic data

U.S. stocks posted solid gains for the last week of April, as investors mainly cheered over strong corporate earnings and economic reports.

For the week, the blue-chip Dow rose 1.9 percent, and the broader S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 2.3 percent.

A slew of tech companies reported first quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell.

Google's parent company Alphabet reported first-quarter revenue of 24.75 billion U.S. dollars, up 22 percent year on year. Shares of Alphabet rose more than 4 percent by noon.

Shares of Amazon rose nearly 2 percent at midday after the company reported diluted earnings per share of 1.48 dollars in the first quarter.

Intel reported earnings per share of 0.61 dollar, up 45 percent year on year. The company's first-quarter revenue stood at 14.8 billion dollars, up 8 percent compared to the same period last year.

Microsoft's first-quarter revenue stood at 22.1 billion dollars, while the company's net income reached 4.8 billion dollars.

The Dow component Exxon Mobil announced Friday the estimated first quarter earnings of 4 billion dollars, or 0.95 dollar per diluted share, compared with 1.8 billion dollars a year earlier, exceeding market expectations.

Chevron, also a Dow component, reported earnings of 2.7 billion dollars or 1.41 dollars per diluted share on Friday.

Ford reported Thursday first quarter total company revenue was 39.1 billion U.S. dollars, up 4 percent year on year, driven by favorable mix. However, profit fell year-on-year due to higher costs, lower volume and unfavorable exchange rates.

American Airlines reported first-quarter earnings of 0.46 dollar per diluted share, and a 2-percent increase in total revenue, to 9.6 billion dollars.

Dow component Boeing reported its first-quarter earnings before the Wednesday's opening bell. The company's earnings per share increased to 2.34 U.S. dollars while the revenue decreased to 21.0 billion dollars.

Shares of Twitter ended at 15.82 dollars per share on Wednesday, soared 7.91 percent, after it reported better-than-expected earnings after several quarters of disappointing results.

Caterpillar reported first-quarter earnings and revenue on Tuesday that far exceeded Wall Street's expectations, sending shares 7 percent higher in early trading.

Excluding restructuring costs, the company reported first-quarter profit of 1.28 dollars per share, doubling that of the first quarter last year.

Shares of DuPont rallied over three percent in early trading, Tuesday after it reported a better-than-expected profit for the seventh straight quarter, helped by a rise in seed sales.

The company's first-quarter earnings per share increased 9 percent to 1.52 dollars from 1.39 dollars in prior year.

McDonald's also reported higher first-quarter earnings Tuesday with net income of 1.2 billion dollars, up eight percent from a year ago.

On the economic front, the U.S. real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter, the weakest pace in three years, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Commerce Department Friday.

U.S. new orders for manufactured durable goods in March increased 1.6 billion dollars, or 0.7 percent, to 238.7 billion dollars, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Thursday.

In a separate report, the bureau said the international trade deficit was 64.8 billion dollars in March, up 0.9 billion dollars from 63.9 billion dollars in February.

In the week ending April 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 257,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level, according to the country's Department of Labor.

The four-week moving average was 242,250, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 243,000 to 242,750.

Sales of new single-family houses in March 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 621,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday.

That was 5.8 percent above the revised February sales pace, and 15.6 percent higher than a year ago.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index came in at 120.3 in April, down from 124.9 in March, below economists' expectations.

Meanwhile, investors also kept a close eye on Trump administration's tax plan.

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled the principles of the long-awaited tax reform plan that will significantly cut income taxes for Americans and corporates, ahead of the administration's first 100 days in office.

The plan would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets to three from seven, and it would cut the top individual income tax rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent, Gary Cohn, director of the White House National Economic Council (NEC), said at a press briefing at the White House.

"We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something really big," Cohn said, noting President Donald Trump has made tax reform a priority and the Republican-controlled Congress also wants to get it done.

At the same time, the plan would cut the corporate income tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent, and it would also impose a one-time tax on overseas profits of U.S. companies, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Endit