Stocks Close Out April With a Whimper

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U.S. stocks declined to close out the month, as economic data confirming a U.S. growth rebound and strong earnings results failed to boost shares.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

 fell 185.51 points, or 0.5%, to 33,874.85. The

S&P 500

 dropped 30.30 points, or 0.7%, to 4,181.17, and the

Nasdaq Composite

 declined 119.86 points, or 0.9%, to 13,962.68.

Even with Friday’s losses, though, major benchmarks posted monthly gains after a slate of better-than-expected earnings reports. The Dow gained 2.7% for April, while the S&P 500 posted a 5.2% advance and the Nasdaq Composite rose 5.4%.

Notably, while the broad market’s gains are normal for a strong earnings season, individual companies aren’t being rewarded as much as usual for beating forecasts, Deutsche Bank strategists pointed out in an April 29 note. Even so, U.S. companies’ strong quarterly results have prompted Credit Suisse strategist Jonathan Golub to upgrade his year-end target on the S&P 500 by 7%, to 4,600. That implies an increase of nearly 10% from recent levels.

Also on Friday, a series of economic data on prices and personal income came in largely in line with or above expectations. Personal income rose 21% in March, above the expectations for a 20% rise, while personal spending climbed 4.2%, slightly more than expected. The Fed’s favored inflation gauge rose at a pace that was mostly in line with economist forecasts. Treasury yields fell despite the strong data, with the 10-year yield down one basis point, or hundredth of a percentage point, to 1.63%.

The

CSI 300

and Hong Kong’s

Hang Seng

fell by 0.8% and 1.9%, respectively on Friday. Shares of

Tencent

and JD.com fell after regulators in China said they had summoned companies with online finance services and ordered them to beef up antimonopoly measures. Meanwhile, Chinese lenders such as

Postal Savings Bank of China

fell, as analysts said growth seemed muted.

Chinese manufacturing and nonmanufacturing purchasing managers indexes showed expansion in April, but well short of expectations, as global chip shortages weighed on manufacturers. A separate private gauge showed activity among smaller manufacturers picking up to its highest monthly level this year. China’s five-day Labor Day holiday begins on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the eurozone economy entered its second technical recession in a year as growth domestic product fell by 0.6% in the first quarter. The

Stoxx Europe 600 index

closed 0.3% lower, as investors also weighed a fresh batch of earnings.

Twitter

(ticker: TWTR) shares plunged 15% after disappointing guidance from the social-media company, as investors looked past earnings forecasts that beat Wall Street’s estimates.

Shares of

Amazon

(AMZN) slipped 0.1% after the e-commerce giant reported a blockbuster first quarter and said it sees further growth ahead.

A handful of other companies saw their shares fall despite beating earnings forecasts.

Western Digital

 (WDC) slipped 0.7% after better-than-expected financial results.

S&P Global

 (SPGI) stock was down 0.6%, despite beating forecasts for its quarterly earnings and sales.

Clorox

 (CLX) stock fell 1.9% after reporting quarterly profits that beat estimates and sales that fell short of Wall Street’s projections.

Chevron

 (CVX) stock fell 3.6% after reporting a profit of 90 cents a share, meeting forecasts, on slightly better-than-expected sales of $32 billion.

Elsewhere, U.S.-listed shares of AstraZeneca (AZN) climbed 3.3%, after reporting rising revenue and profits in a first quarter that was boosted by sales of its cancer drug. The U.K. drug company said it generated $275 million in sales from the Covid-19 vaccine it has developed with the University of Oxford.

Bristol Myers Squibb

(BMY) stock dropped 0.7% after getting downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley, one day after its earnings report.

Write to Alexandra Scaggs at [email protected] and Jacob Sonenshine at [email protected]