Wall Street was heading for more gains before Friday’s opening as markets strive for their first winning week of 2025, the Associated Press reports. Futures for the S&P 500 climbed 0.6% before the bell, and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. If those gains hold, this would be the best week for U.S. markets since early November.
Shares of JB Hunt tumbled 10% after the transport company missed Wall Street’s fourth-quarter profit targets as revenues continued to decline. The company said it expected margins to shrink again in the first quarter of 2025 as insurance premiums and labor costs continue to rise.
Qorvo jumped more than 7% after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Starboard Value had taken a 7.7% stake in the company and would push for changes to improve its profits and share price.
More than a handful of regional banks issued a mixed bag of earnings reports on Friday. Those followed blowout reports earlier in the week from the nation’s bigger banks, which saw their profits soar in the fourth quarter. Smaller regional banks have been under the microscope since the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature, and First Republic.
U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 57 cents to $77.28 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave back 63 cents, trading at $80.66 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 155.57 Japanese yen from 155.16 yen late Thursday.
