S&P 500 rises 1.5% in April as financial sector stocks regain some ground

US stocks generally rose during April, as positive earnings drove several sectors higher and financial companies recovered somewhat from March's fall.

The S&P 500 gained 1.5%, finishing the month at 4,169.48 The Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded a larger 2.5% rise.

Smaller-cap stocks performed worse, with the Russell 2000 down 1.9% for the month.

Sector performance

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose during the month.

The S&P 500 Communication Services index posted a 3.6% gain, the highest of any sector during April. The financials sector gained 3.0% during the month, bouncing back from a 9.7% decline in March as bank stocks fell following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

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On the low end, the S&P 500 Industrials registered the largest drop at 1.2%.

Largest gains, drops in April

Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was the top-performing S&P 500 stock in April, with a 21.0% jump during the month. The company beat earnings expectations for the quarter ended March 31, driven by a jump in sales and better operating margins compared to the year-ago quarter.

The remainder of the five best-performing stocks in April came from healthcare following generally positive earnings reports by Universal Health Services Inc., Intuitive Surgical Inc., Baxter International Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co.

The now-shuttered First Republic Bank was the worst performer on the S&P 500 and the most-traded company stock. Shares in the company fell 74.9% during April, just before the bank's collapse and takeover by JPMorgan Chase & Co. First Republic shares plummeted in March in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank's failure and fell further in the last week of April after revealing a near-$72 billion drop in deposits during the first quarter.

The NYSE announced on May 2 it would delist First Republic's stock.