Stock market today: Dow nabs 8th straight winning session, S&P 500 marches back toward record high

The Dow eked out its eighth straight session of gains on Friday as US stocks finished the day mostly in the green, despite the three major indexes losing some steam earlier in the session after consumer sentiment hit a six-month low.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which capped off its best week since Dec. 15, jumped roughly 0.3%, with the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) finishing the day up about 0.2%, closing above 5,220. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) closed just below the flatline.

Here's a snapshot of what to expect next week with key earnings and a critical inflation print on deck, courtesy of Yahoo Finance's Brent Sanchez:

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said the company plans to spend more than $500 million to expand its charging network, just days after mass layoffs hit the EV maker's Supercharger unit.

In a tweet on X early Friday morning, Musk said: “Just to reiterate: Tesla will spend well over $500M expanding our Supercharger network to create thousands of NEW chargers this year. That’s just on new sites and expansions, not counting operations costs, which are much higher.”

The news comes after Musk and Tesla laid off nearly the entire Supercharger organization last week with the executive saying on X that the network will grow at “a slower pace” for new locations.

Yahoo Finance's senior autos reporter Pras Subramanian reports:

Automakers like GM, Ford, Kia, Polestar, Stellantis, Honda, and others had signed up to access the Supercharger network, and incorporate Tesla’s NACS plug inlet in their future vehicles, under the promise that the Supercharger network would continue to grow at a steady pace.

Tesla was likely getting an earful from its NACS partners, questioning what they were getting exactly after signing deals to access the Supercharger network.

In addition, contractors and others working with Tesla on existing Supercharger projects were getting their emails bounced back with no feedback on what to do next. Tesla also apparently backed out of leases at four upcoming Supercharger sites in New York, per EV blog Electrek.

Charging network provider EVgo told Yahoo Finance that it was “actively engaged” in the development of the NACS network and was adding more locations to take advantage of Tesla’s move to backtrack its expansion.

EVgo competitor Blink Charging is also poised to move on the opportunity, claiming potential Supercharger customers contacted Blink about future orders in the wake of Tesla’s move.

Even oil and gas stalwarts like BP are moving in on Tesla. With its BP Pulse charging network, the company said it “is aggressively looking to acquire real estate to scale our network, which is a heightened focus following the recent Tesla announcement.”

The company’s top executive is even telling Tesla’s jilted partners to give him a ring.

“If there are stranded real estate partners who are looking for someone to call, they should feel free to pick up the phone and call me or look me up on LinkedIn,” BP Pulse Americas CEO Sujay Sharma told Bloomberg.

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Friday she believes interest rates need to stay where they are "for a bit longer."

“It is of utmost importance that we maintain credibility in pursuing our fight against inflation by proceeding carefully and deliberately to achieve our 2% goal,” Bowman said while speaking in Arlington, Texas.

“I think we need to be where we are for a bit longer,” she added. “And if we don’t see progress on inflation, then I think we really need to be thinking about what we need to do from there.”

The comments echo similar sentiments from other Fed officials in recent weeks that interest rates will likely need to stay where they are until more data shows inflation is safely on the path down towards the Fed's 2% inflation target.

The central bank kept interest rates unchanged last week but warned inflation is still too high to cut.

In its statement, members say, "Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated. In recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective."

US-listed Chinese electric vehicle makers like Nio (NIO), Li Auto (LI), and Xpeng (XPEV) saw shares drop on Friday following news that President Biden is set to unveil tariffs on China strategic industries, including EVs, batteries and solar cells.

Existing tariffs will be maintained with an announcement expected to come as soon as next week, according to Bloomberg.

A separate report from the Wall Street Journal said the administration plans to "roughly quadruple" the levy.

The development comes ahead of a critical election year with China's economic strength in focus.

Biden said last month he would impose 25% tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. Trump has vowed to hit Beijing with a 60% levy on all Chinese imports if he were to be reelected.

“Instead of correcting its wrong practices, the United States continued to politicize economic and trade issues,” Lin Jian, a ministry spokesman, said on Friday. “To further increase tariffs is to add insult to injury.”

US stocks lost steam in early afternoon trading on Friday after consumer sentiment hit a six-month low.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which is eyeing its eighth straight win, clung to gains of roughly 0.1%, with the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) hovering above the flatline on the heels of closing above 5,200 for the first time in a month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) declined around 0.2%.

The latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey released Friday revealed a 13% drop in overall sentiment during the month of May. The index reading for the month came in at 67.4, its lowest level in six months, and well below economist expectations of 76.2.

Here are the stocks on Yahoo Finance's trending ticker page early Friday:

Novavax (NVAX): Shares of the the pharmaceutical company soared more than 130% on Friday after it said it reached a $1.4 billion deal with French company Sanofi to co-commercialize its current COVID-19 vaccine worldwide.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM): Shares climbed on Friday, up about 5%, after the chipmaker said its April sales surged 60% year over year, signaling lasting demand for AI-powered chips. TSM is a key supplier for tech titans including Nvidia (NVDA), and AMD (AMD), which rallied on the heels of the TSM's results.

SoundHound (SOUN): Shares of the artificial intelligence company jumped more than 15% after it posted revenue growth of 73% in the first quarter and boosted its full-year revenue outlook for 2024. The company's CEO Keyvan Mohajer said said voice AI is quickly becoming a must-have tool for customer service.

Sweetgreen (SG): Shares surged 40% on Friday after the fast-casual salad chain reported first quarter earnings that beat expectations and also boosted its full-year outlook on higher menu prices. Same-store sales climbed 5% in the quarter amid those higher prices with the company also touting its new steak offering, which was officially added to menus on May 7.

Americans are becoming increasingly worried about sticky inflation and the prospect of high interest rates for longer than initially hoped.

The latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey released Friday revealed a 13% decline in overall sentiment during the month of May. The index reading for the month came in at 67.4, its lowest level in six months, and well below economist expectations for a reading of 76.2.

Year-ahead inflation expectations hit 3.5% in Friday's report, up from 3.2% in the month prior. Longer-run inflation expectations rose to 3.1%, up from 3% the month prior.

"While consumers had been reserving judgment for the past few months, they now perceive negative developments on a number of dimensions," Survey of Consumers director Joanne Hsu said in a statement. "They expressed worries that inflation, unemployment and interest rates may all be moving in an unfavorable direction in the year ahead."

Stocks opened higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) looking to end the week with its eighth straight win following a particularly sluggish April for markets.

At the opening bell, the Dow rose roughly 0.2%, and the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained about 0.3% on the heels of closing above 5,200 for the first time in a month. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also jumped around 0.2%.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) rose about 4 basis points to trade near 4.49%.

The gains come as investors appear more confident the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates sooner than expected after an April jobs report pointed to signs of a cooling labor market.

A slew of Fed speakers on the docket Friday could offer more clarity on the path forward for interest rates. Michelle Bowman, Neel Kashkari, and Austan Goolsbee are all scheduled to appear.

Citi doing a little earnings call mining today, pointing out these notes from AirBNB's (ABNB) call this week:

"Nights booked in Paris during the Summer Olympics are 5x higher than this time last year while Germany is seeing a similar trend for the Euro Cup this summer with nights booked nearly 2x vs. last year."

The feel-good vibe in markets marches on, and the happiness is starting to compound.

The S&P 500 remains on track for a third consecutive weekly gain for the first time since February. What's more, as Deutsche Bank points out, this has been the strongest performance over six sessions for the benchmark index this year so far. The S&P 500 has rallied a solid 3.9% since its recent low on May 1.