Stock market today: Nasdaq, S&P 500, Dow rise as investors embrace Apple earnings

US stocks rose Friday afternoon coming off solid earnings from Apple (AAPL) and as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge matched expectations. Despite the fears of a looming tariff deadline, investors are on pace for a winning month.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 1.3%, boosted from solid tech earnings. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved up roughly 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.2% both moving up on Thursday’s gains.

In the final hours of trading hours of January, all three major gauges were also set score wins for the month. The Nasdaq is on track for a 2.3% gain. The S&P is set for a 3.5% increase, while the Dow leads the trio with an expected jump of 5.6% for January.

When the Chinese upstart DeepSeek sparked a panic on Wall Street, questioning the massive AI spending of the US tech giants, President Trump urged the industry to take it as a “wake up call.“

Trump is set to continue his advocacy for US AI dominance as he huddles with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang the White House on Friday, Reuters reported. The Trump administration is considering tightening the sale of Nvidia’s export controls-compliant H20 chips to the China market, in an effort to further stall AI progress outside the US and its ally nations.

The meeting comes as the White House searches for new ways to boost US competitiveness, including further restrictions on tech exports to China. The US is already set to enact a new set of export controls designed to maintain the country’s technological edge in the interest of national security.

The latest reading on inflation did little to change market thinking on the Fed’s interest rate approach, as traders kept their bets that the next rate cut likely won’t arrive until at least June.

On Friday the latest reading of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge showed prices increased in line with expectations in December as inflation remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

The steady progress, or lack of a major turn, appeared to solidify the market’s forecasting on rate cuts. The chances of a cut at the Fed’s June meeting stand at nearly 70%, the first month in 2025 where the probability exceeds 50%, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

The inflation data followed Chair Powell’s announcement on Wednesday that the Fed would keep rates steady. At the press conference he underscored a wait-and-see approach toward the economic uncertainty and trade policies of the Trump administration.

The AI-inspired super cycle that Apple bulls predicted has still not arrived, but the company’s overall performance last quarter lifted shares amid a mixed earnings season for Big Tech.

Apple stock rose more than 2% during morning trading Friday after the iPhone maker posted fiscal first quarter earnings on Thursday. Cupertino beat expectations on the top and bottom lines but fell short on iPhone revenue.

After arriving late to the big AI push in the tech world, Apple Intelligence was framed as an intuitive set of AI features that would encourage users to upgrade their devices.

But some analysts worry that the AI tools aren’t enough to trigger the hoped-for supercycle of upgrades. Still, Apple’s approach to AI has been rewarded in recent days as other Big Tech peers were punished after the breakout success of the Chinese startup DeepSeek. Apple shares rose during the market panic.

Investors braced for a looming tariff deadline but embraced a solid showing from Apple (AAPL), and breathed a collective sigh as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge matched expectations.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 0.4%, with spirits getting a boost from solid tech earnings. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved up roughly 0.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added 0.3%. Both were set to build on Thursday’s gains.

Shares in Apple gained at the opening bell after the megacap posted a first quarter profit beat. While quarterly iPhone and China sales fell short, investors took an upbeat outlook for revenue as a sign of future recovery.

The latest reading of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed prices increased in line with expectations in December as inflation remained above the Fed’s 2% target.

The “core” Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which strips out food and energy costs and is closely watched by the central bank, rose 0.2% from the prior month during December, meeting Wall Street’s expectations. The reading was higher than the 0.1% increase seen in November.

Over the prior year, core prices rose 2.8%, in line with Wall Street’s expectations and unchanged from November. On a yearly basis, overall PCE increased 2.6%, a pickup from the 2.4% seen in November.

Read more here.

One of the biggest losers early Friday was Deckers Outdoor (DECK) stock. Deckers is the company behind shoe brands UGG and HOKA, which boasts a portfolio of some of the most comfortable footwear around.

The stock was down as much as 14% in premarket trading.

Last night, the company said its sales for its fiscal year 2025 — which is set to end in March — would rise 15% to $4.9 billion, a slowdown from the 17% growth reported in its third quarter and a slowdown from the 18% growth seen in its fiscal 2024.

Deckers stock, one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) over the last five years, closed at a record high on Thursday ahead of the results.

That success, however, appears to have caused some of the agita in markets early Friday. As MScience analyst Drake MacFarlane told Reuters, the company’s guide “looks pretty conservative, and considering the beat, it’s a bit of a negative read into the out quarter.”

At Decker’s two biggest brands — HOKA and UGG — sales rose 23.7% and 16.1%, respectively, in the holiday quarter.

My award for best 2025 earnings call for an interim CEO award goes to Intel’s (INTC) co-interim CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus.

“There are no quick fixes,” Holthaus started her earnings call with last night. She then followed that with a host of no-BS comments on the state of the chipmaker.

I liked it! I wish more execs didn’t blow smoke in the face of investors, analysts, and media.

Then again, everyone knows Intel is in a real bad place right now, so it doesn’t hurt to be bluntly honest.

Holthaus’s comments and those by co-interim CEO David Zinsner on the foundry business (it’s not getting out of the cash-draining business — at least not this year) suggest Intel is in for another brutal 2025. Cost cuts will make the bottom line feel less brutal, but this is likely a dead money stock until a permanent CEO is announced in the coming months.

Tim Cook’s bullish comments on Apple Intelligence on a conference call are, in large part, driving the premarket bid in Apple (AAPL), based on what I am seeing.

I can appreciate the enthusiasm about the product and what it may mean to the company’s services business. But Apple didn’t exactly blow minds with its results.

China sales tanking 11% year on year is a big deal. Commentary about China on the call suggests a recovery in the business is a few quarters away.

“While services remain strong and the mix is shifting toward higher margin, our concerns around: 1) lack of a US upgrade cycle; 2) China competition; and 3) an unlikely inflection across all products/geographies remain,” KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel wrote in a client note this morning.

Nispel reiterated an Underweight rating (Sell equivalent) on the stock.

Hat tip, Brandon, on the blunt analysis.