Friday, May 1st, 2026
We start the final trading day of one of the most historically informational week for the stock market in recent memory relatively quiet. Thursday saw record closing highs for the S&P 500, Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000.
We’ll see final Manufacturing PMI from S&P and ISM after the opening bell, but otherwise we have time to absorb the tremendous amount of content sent our way this week — from continually rising gasoline prices as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarkable final presser about the importance of an independent Federal Reserve to inflation back up over +3% to unbelievably low Weekly Jobless Claims numbers to succinctly, four of the biggest earnings reports in Wall Street’s history, in terms of AI hyperscalers’ growth and capital expenditures.
The week of trading saw the major indexes flat to down overall before climbing to record closes, but this morning they’d jumped on the latest news that Iran’s government has submitted a new plan to end the war. As this column gets written, however, volatility is once again entering pre-market activity. The Dow is +154 points presently, +0.31%, while the S&P 500 is 16 points, +0.22%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has actually dipped to negative territory, -12 points, -0.05%, and the Russell 2000 is +2 points, +0.07%.
Earnings Report Roundup Ahead of the Opening Bell
Global cosmetics mainstay Estee Lauder EL crushed fiscal Q3 earnings expectations, reporting 91 cents per share compared to the 66 cents in the Zacks consensus. Revenues surpassed estimates by a decidedly more modest +0.29% to $3.71 billion. Shares are up +12% on the news this morning, but still digging out of their double-digit hole year to date. For more on EL’s earnings, click here.
Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy)-rated ExxonMobil XOM easily beat estimates on both top and bottom lines this morning. Earnings of $1.16 per share outpaced the Zacks consensus $1.07 by +8.4%, while revenues of $85.14 billion were +4.47% stronger than anticipated. Shares are flat on the news, but +28% year to date. For more on XOM’s earnings, click here.
Chevron CVX, another integrated oil supermajor with a Zacks Rank #1, posted an even bigger bottom line surprise: +53.3% to $141 per share. Revenues of $48.61 billion bettered expectations by +2.60% for the quarter, and $1 billion better than the year-ago sales tally. Shares are down slightly, but +25% year to date. For more on CVX’s earnings, click here.
Both of these companies — along with Dominion Energy D, which posted a +6.7% earnings beat and +17.2% on the top line — have obviously benefited from the spike in global oil prices since the start of the war launched in late February. But there are some bearish signals, as continued price increases in spot oil will eventually lead to shrinking margins. After all, there will be only so much of these price increases oil companies will be able to pass along to consumers.
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Chevron Corporation (CVX): Free Stock Analysis Report
Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM): Free Stock Analysis Report
The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Dominion Energy Inc. (D): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).