Stock Market Today: Nasdaq Soars Ahead of Tesla Earnings

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It's the busiest week of first-quarter earnings season so far, with roughly 40% of the S&P 500 reporting. A round of well-received reports sent stocks higher out of the gate Tuesday, while a rally in Big Tech kept the wind at the market's back.

Taking a closer look at today's earnings calendar, Spotify (SPOT, +11.5%) was one of the biggest gainers Tuesday after the audio streaming service's Q1 results. SPOT swung to a per-share profit in the first quarter, while revenue surged more than 19% year-over-year thanks to recent price increases. The company also said it had 239 million paying subscribers, in line with estimates.

Elsewhere, General Motors (GM) jumped 4.4% after the automaker's beat-and-raise quarter. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives (Outperform, the equivalent of a Buy) said Q1 was a "major 'prove me' quarter for GM and shows the long-awaited turnaround appears to be underway."

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JetBlue skids after disappointing guidance

At the other end of the spectrum was JetBlue Airways (JBLU), which tumbled 18.8% after its earnings report. While the discount air carrier reported a narrower-than-expected Q1 loss of 43 cents per share on in-line revenue of $2.2 billion, its Q2 and full-year guidance came in below estimates.

CFRA Research analyst Jonnathan Handshoe maintained a Hold rating on JetBlue after earnings, but lowered his price target to $6.50 from $7. "We think a discount is merited due to the Pratt & Whitney engine recall, causing JBLU to ground 4% of its capacity in 2024, which could last until 2025 to 2026," Handshoe says. However, the analyst also notes that the company's cost-cutting measures are a positive.

Nvidia gains $70 billion in market value amid Mag 7 rally

The earnings calendar is jam-packed over the next few days with several Magnificent 7 stocks set to release their results. Next up is Tesla (TSLA), which will disclose its Q1 results after Tuesday's close. TSLA stock rose 1.9% ahead of its results, joining its fellow Mag 7 members in positive territory.

Nvidia (NVDA), though, was arguably the most notable gainer of the group. The chipmaker rose 3.7%, gaining $70 billion in market value along the way, as many investors bought the dip on the hot stock. Indeed, NVDA was up nearly 92% for the year-to-date on March 25, but has since slid more than 13%. (It was down almost 20% at last Friday's close.)

Econ data boosts July rate-cut expectations

In economic news, S&P Global said its flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMIs) for the manufacturing sector fell into contraction territory in April, while separate data showed activity in the services sector grew at its slowest pace of the year.

"While last week's market volatility was driven, in part, by investors repricing equities based on the higher for longer outlook, today's data is helping alleviate fears of the central bank staying restrictive for too long," says José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, futures traders are now pricing in a 41% chance for a quarter-point rate hike in July – up from 37% one day ago.

As for the main indexes, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6% to 15,696, the S&P 500 added 1.2% to 5,070, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 38,503.

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With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021 after 10 years of working as an investing writer and columnist at a local investment research firm. In her previous role, Karee focused primarily on options trading, as well as technical, fundamental and sentiment analysis.