* S&P 500, Nasdaq post best months since 2020

* AMD, Palantir, Disney ( DIS ) among reports due next week

* US jobs data due after hawkish Fed turn

By Lewis Krauskopf

NEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - Investors will look for

another batch of earnings reports and fresh employment data to

drive a resilient U.S. stocks rally higher next week, in the

face of spiking oil prices and a more hawkish Federal Reserve.

Major U.S. stock indexes were at record-high levels on

Thursday, following a sharp month-long rebound from concerns

about economic fallout from the Middle East war. A broadly

strong season for corporate profits is underpinning bullishness

for U.S. equities and countering other market headwinds.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq

Composite both ended April on Thursday with their

biggest monthly gains since 2020. The S&P 500 rose more than 10%

for April, while the Nasdaq jumped over 15%.

"We have these fast-rising profits on one side, and then on

the other, we have upward pressures on oil prices and bond

yields," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment

strategist at Edward Jones. "We've rallied a lot in April, so

potentially we may enter some period of consolidation as this

pull and push is playing out."

Stocks this week largely shrugged off a renewed surge in oil

prices with benchmark Brent crude topping $120 a barrel

and hitting a four-year high before pulling back. Energy markets

were poised to swing on developments in the two-month

U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has choked off a major supply

of oil. While a ceasefire agreement helped catalyze the stock

market's rebound, continued tensions in the Middle East were

poised to keep investors on edge.

"With each passing day, the economic risk grows," said Jeff

Buchbinder, chief equity strategist for LPL Financial. "If we're

sitting here in a month or two, and Brent crude is still over

$120, and we've still got a blockade and maybe bombs are still

falling, that is a very different scenario than what we're

looking at right now."

ANOTHER BIG EARNINGS WEEK

More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are set to post

results next week, with markets digesting the heart of the

reporting season. Overall S&P 500 earnings as of Thursday were

on track to climb more than 20% in the first quarter from a year

ago, according to Tajinder Dhillon, head of earnings and equity

research at LSEG Data & Analytics.

This week, megacap companies investing in

artificial-intelligence infrastructure reported results that

yielded mixed market reactions. Shares of Alphabet

jumped on Thursday after the Google parent showed blowout

cloud-computing growth, while shares of Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Meta Platforms ( META ) slumped after less stellar results.

Data analytics firm Palantir, entertainment company

Walt Disney ( DIS ) and restaurant chain McDonald's are

among the high-profile companies due to report next week.

Results from chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) will

also be in focus, given recent eye-popping gains for its shares

as well as those of other semiconductor companies, said Michael

O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. Over the past

month, AMD shares are up some 80% and the Philadelphia SE

Semiconductor index is up over 45%.

"This is the group that is dominating the tape and

dominating the market," O'Rourke said. "Any datapoints you get

are going to be really important."

JOBS IN FOCUS AS RATE-CUT HOPES DIM

The payrolls report for April, due on May 8, is expected to

show growth of 73,000 jobs, according to economists polled by

Reuters. That would be a step down from the 178,000 added in

March, but an improvement over the sharp employment decline in

February.

"It's a slow job market, but the job market is still hanging

in there," Buchbinder said.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. economic growth picked up in the

first quarter, as the AI spending boom helped to lift business

investment in equipment.

The fresh jobs data will follow signs that equity-friendly

interest rate cuts may be harder to come by this year. This

week's Federal Reserve meeting revealed a surprisingly divided

U.S. central bank, as three board members objected to language

in the Fed's policy statement they felt did not take adequate

account of inflation risks that might require a rate hike.

That hawkish turn, combined with surging oil prices, pushed

benchmark U.S. Treasury yields to one-month highs. The yield on

the widely followed 10-year Treasury was last around 4.4%.

Higher yields could pose problems for equities, including

translating into higher borrowing costs for consumers and

businesses.

"The 10-year above 4.5% will certainly catch more investors'

attention," Kourkafas said. "At that point, investors might

start rethinking valuations and get a little more worried."