Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened on a high note. The S&P 500 trades up 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite is 1.1% higher also.

The upside moves are more impressive considering the earnings-related declines in Apple (AAPL 204.04, -9.32, -4.4%) and Amazon (AMZN 189.19, -0.87, -0.5%). The equal-weighted S&P 500 sports a 1.3% gain, reflecting solid buying elsewhere.

The positive bias is driven by momentum after a big run of late, along with optimism around the trade situation with China after an acknowledgement that China may be open to talks with the U.S. 

Market participants are also digesting a solid employment report for April. 

Factory orders surged 4.3% month-over-month in March (Briefing.com consensus 4.1%), bolstered by aircraft orders, after increasing a downwardly revised 0.5% (from 0.6%) in February. Excluding transportation, factory orders declined 0.2% after increasing 0.3% in February. Shipments of manufactured goods slipped 0.1% after increasing 0.7% in February.

The key takeaway from the report is that the headline number masks a languid situation for factory orders in March, which were negative when the transportation component is removed.