Stocks Opened Higher ahead of Holiday

U.S. stocks opened modestly higher on Friday, as investors took a momentary respite from worries about the U.S.-China trade war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately rose 164.09 points, or 0.64%, to 25,654.56. The S&P 500 added 17.26 points, or 0.61%, to 2,839.50. The Nasdaq Composite gained 64.30 points, or 0.84%, to 7,692.58.

Oil futures prices headed for a Friday rebound after suffering their largest single-session loss of the year. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up 73 cents, or 1.3%, at $58.59 a barrel. July Brent was up 80 cents, or 1.2%, at $68.56 a barrel.

Durable goods orders declined 2.1% in April, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. Census Bureau Friday. This was below March’s downwardly revised reading to a 1.7% increase, and short of expectations for just a 2% decline in April, according to Bloomberg data.

Foot Locker (FL) missed expectations in first-quarter results. First-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.53 missed expectations by 7 cents, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Comparable same-store sales rose just 4.6%, versus an increase of 5.5% expected, and revenue of $2.08 billion fell short of estimates for $2.11 billion.

Ross Stores (ROST) topped expectations in first-quarter results, but guidance for the second quarter came up short compared to estimates. First-quarter earnings per share of $1.15 beat estimates by 3 cents, and sales of $3.80 billion were just ahead of estimates for $3.79 billion. It expects to deliver second-quarter earnings of between $1.06 to $1.11 per share, below expectations for $1.13 per share.

Autodesk (ADSK) missed Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly sales and provided weak guidance for the full year. Adjusted earnings totaled 45 cents per share for the first quarter, while total sales of $735.5 million missed expectations for $740.6 million. It sees full-year adjusted EPS of between $2.71 to $2.90, with the midpoint missing estimates for $2.85.