Overnight US stocks | The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit record highs, with Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) rising over 4% in after-hours trading.

On Thursday, the three major indices rose, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting new all-time highs. In April, all three major stock indices recorded significant gains. The Dow rose by 7.14%; the Nasdaq rose by 15.29%, achieving its best monthly performance since April 2020; the S&P 500 rose by 10.42%, achieving its largest monthly gain since November 2020. [US Stocks] At the close, the Dow rose by 790.33 points, or 1.62%, to 49,652.14 points; the Nasdaq rose by 219.07 points, or 0.89%, to 24,892.31 points; and the S&P 500 rose by 73.06 points, or 1.02%, to 7,209.01 points. Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) closed up by 0.44% and rose by over 4% in after-hours trading. Alphabet (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) rose by nearly 10%, hitting a new all-time high; Qualcomm (QCOM.US) rose by over 15%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose by 2.1%, and Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) rose by over 1%. [European Stocks] The German DAX30 index rose by 330.65 points, or 1.38%, to 24,274.39 points; the UK's FTSE 100 index rose by 154.65 points, or 1.51%, to 10,367.76 points; the French CAC40 index rose by 42.71 points, or 0.53%, to 8,114.84 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose by 57.88 points, or 1.00%, to 5,874.36 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index rose by 124.07 points, or 0.70%, to 17,789.27 points; and the Italian FTSE MIB index rose by 422.47 points, or 0.88%, to 48,218.50 points. [US Dollar Index] The US Dollar Index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, fell by 0.91% on the day and closed at 98.054 in the forex market. At the close of the New York forex market, 1 Euro exchanged for 1.1729 US dollars, higher than the previous trading day's 1.1682 US dollars; 1 British pound exchanged for 1.3583 US dollars, higher than the previous trading day's 1.3483 US dollars. 1 US dollar exchanged for 156.49 Japanese yen, lower than the previous trading day's 160.32 Japanese yen; 1 US dollar exchanged for 0.7819 Swiss francs, lower than the previous trading day's 0.7907 Swiss francs; 1 US dollar exchanged for 1.3612 Canadian dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.3681 Canadian dollars; and 1 US dollar exchanged for 9.2354 Swedish kronor, lower than the previous trading day's 9.3074 Swedish kronor. [Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose by 0.58%, trading at $76,373; Ethereum remained relatively stable, trading at $2,259.62. [Crude Oil] The price of light crude oil futures for delivery in June on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by $1.81 to $105.07 per barrel, a decrease of 1.69%; the price of Brent crude oil futures for delivery in June fell by $4.02 to $114.01 per barrel, a decrease of 3.41%. [Precious Metals] Spot gold erased some of yesterday's losses and rose back above $4,600, closing at $4,620.63 per ounce; spot silver closed at $73.717 per ounce. [Macro News] Trump: Doesn't care if Powell remains on the board. US President Trump says he doesn't care whether Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stays on as a director once his term as chairman ends. Powell's term as Federal Reserve chair ends on May 15, but his term as a director runs until 2028, and he has said he plans to continue in that position for a "to be determined period." Meanwhile, Kevin Wash is expected to win approval from all Senate members before Powell's term ends, and Powell's continued tenure could make Trump's efforts to reshape the Federal Reserve more complicated. Asked whether he was prepared to take any action on Powell's decision to continue as a director, Trump replied, "No, I don't care if he stays on. I just want to make sure that Kevin can serve in that role." US mortgage rates surge to 6.3% for the first time in a month. US mortgage rates rose for the first time in a month as the key spring sales season has yet to accelerate. According to Fannie Mae, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose from 6.23% last week to 6.3%. A year ago, this figure was 6.76%. The real estate market has been stagnant since mortgage rates surged in 2022. Before the war in Iran broke out, rates had fallen below 6%, sparking hopes of at least a slight rebound. Now, the geopolitical unrest is influencing decisions on both the buying and selling sides. European Central Bank official: May hike rates in June if energy prices don't fall. European Central Bank officials are likely to raise rates at the next June meeting unless there is positive progress on energy prices and the end of the war in Iran. Sources familiar with the matter said that if the conflict continues, the possibility of avoiding a rate hike is very small. However, they emphasized that no decision has been made yet, and the situation could change rapidly. ECB President Lagarde suggested earlier that the ECB would consider raising rates in June. Prior to this, the ECB discussed and rejected a rate hike at Thursday's meeting, keeping the deposit rate at 2%. Officials will receive the latest forecasts at the next meeting, and economists and investors expect them to raise rates by 25 basis points at that time. Lagarde said the next six weeks would be "the right time" to evaluate the economy and make wise decisions based on verified and reassessed information. [Individual Stock News] Alphabet rises by 10%, market value surges by $421 billion in a single day to set second record in history. On Thursday, Alphabet (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) rose by 10%, reaching $384.80 per share, with its market value surging by $421 billion in a single day, setting the second-highest single-day market value increase in history. The record for the highest single-day market value increase is held by NVIDIA Corporation, which saw its market value soar by approximately $440 billion about a year ago when Trump announced a temporary suspension of tariff increases. As of Thursday's closing, Alphabet's stock price has risen by 23% this year, adding over $860 billion to its market cap, bringing its total market value to $4.65 trillion. This puts Alphabet closer to surpassing NVIDIA Corporation as the world's largest company, with the latter's market value at $4.85 trillion. Western Digital Corporation expects quarterly revenue to exceed expectations, benefiting from demand for AI storage. Western Digital Corporation (WDC.US) forecasted on Thursday that its quarterly revenue would exceed Wall Street expectations, expecting strong demand for data storage from AI companies to drive its pricing power. However, the company's stock price fell by nearly 5% in after-hours trading. As of Thursday's closing, Western Digital Corporation's stock price has more than doubled this year, as tech giants' massive investments in AI infrastructure have created huge demand for its high-capacity hard drives. The company expects fourth-quarter revenue to be $3.65 billion (plus or minus $1 billion), while analysts' average expectations were $3.46 billion. The company's third-quarter revenue increased by 45% to $3.34 billion, exceeding the expected $3.25 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.72, compared to the market's expectation of $2.39. Apple Inc. surpasses second-quarter sales expectations, but faces supply constraints for iPhones. Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) released better-than-expected financial results on Thursday, driven by strong consumer interest in the new MacBook led by incoming CEO John Turner, while supply constraints dragged down iPhone sales. Apple Inc.'s revenue and EPS for Q2 of fiscal year 2026 were $111.18 billion and $2.01, respectively, higher than analysts' expectations of $109.66 billion and $1.95. iPhone sales were $56.99 billion, slightly lower than the expected $57.21 billion. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said iPhone sales this quarter were limited by a shortage of high-end processor chips that serve as the devices' "brains." "Demand is off the charts. And right now, we're supply-constrained on chipsets that are really the brains of this device," Cook said. The iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air, led by incoming CEO Turner, are slated for release in September, when he will succeed Cook. Zuckerberg: Sales slowdown blamed on war, layoffs due to AI costs. Meta Platforms (META.US) CEO Zuckerberg provided new details on the company's aggressive AI plans at a full-company meeting on Thursday and responded to the negative market reaction to its first-quarter performance. Zuckerberg attributed Meta's 8% stock price drop to investor concerns about its expected increase in capital expenditure and the company's forecast of slowing growth in the second quarter. He said that Meta's advertising business experienced a "trajectory change" after the US went to war with Iran at the end of February. "When oil prices go up, consumers are going to spend more money on oil and gas, and less on discretionary non-essential items, and advertising tends to be toward those kinds of goods," Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg attributed the company's layoffs next month to the need to invest more funds in data centers and other AI infrastructure. "The company essentially has two cost centers. One is around compute and infrastructure, and the other is around people. If we invest more money in serving our community in one area, that means we have less capital to allocate to another. So it means that we do need to modestly reduce the company's scale," he said. [Major Rating Changes] Morgan Stanley: Raises Amazon.com, Inc.'s (AMZN.US) target price from $300 to $330.