Wall Street quietly mixed as corporate earnings pour in, offering a respite from tariff anxiety

CTV News

2 days ago

Pedestrians pass the New York Stock Exchange, May 5, 2022, in the Manhattan borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Early trading on Wall Street was quietly mixed on Wednesday as markets shift their attention toward a deluge of corporate earnings reports while monitoring ever-changing developments on U.S. trade policy.
Futures for the S&P 500 were flat before the bell, while futures for the Dow industrials rose 0.2 per cent and Nasdaq futures were down 0.2 per cent.
Johnson & Johnson rose 1.8 per cent after the drug and medical device giant beat analysts' sales and profit targets and raised its full-year outlook on both. J&J said it expects 'game-changing approvals and submissions' in the second half of 2025 on an array of products in its pipeline.
Bank of America ticked up less than one per cent after it beat Wall Street's second-quarter profit targets. The bank's net interest income grew for the fourth straight quarter, but came in slightly lower than expectations.
Goldman Sachs also beat Wall Street's sales and profit targets on a strong performance from its trading division, which took advantage of market volatility triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's on-again-off-again tariff announcements this spring. Its shares rose about one per cent before markets opened.
Netherlands-based ASML, the world's leading supplier of chipmaking gear, said in its latest earnings report Wednesday that the impact of Trump's tariffs on its business was less negative than anticipated, but its shares tumbled more than seven per cent after the company said it couldn't guarantee growth next year.
The company makes equipment used in cutting edge semiconductors and one of its key customers is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, a major supplier for Nvidia.
'The level of uncertainty is increasing, mostly due to macroeconomic and geopolitical consideration. And that includes, of course, tariffs,' CEO Christophe Fouquet said.
United Airlines posts its most recent quarterly results after the bell Wednesday.
Also coming Wednesday is the government's report on producer prices, which measures inflation at the wholesale level.
A report on Tuesday showed that consumer inflation in the United States accelerated to 2.7 per cent last month from 2.4 per cent in May. Economists said higher prices for clothes, toys and other imported goods suggest that Trump's stiffer tariffs are fueling inflation. That sticky inflation could mean that the U.S. Federal Reserve will hold its ground on interest rates, which have remained elevated in recent years after red-hot demand and supply chain breakdowns in the wake of the pandemic sent prices for just about everything skyrocketing.
Wall Street loves lower interest rates because they juice prices higher for stocks and other investments, and Trump himself has been clamoring for the Federal Reserve to cut rates more quickly. But the Fed has been keeping interest rates on hold this year since lower rates can give inflation more fuel while they boost the economy. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has insisted he wants to see more data about how tariffs affect the economy and inflation.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday Germany's DAX rose 0.4 per cent, while Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.3 per cent. The CAC 40 in Paris was unchanged.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1 per cent lower, to 39,663.40. Investors are focusing on the potential impact of an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday that is expected to lead to tax cuts and higher spending as lawmakers try to restore the waning popularity of the ruling Liberal Democrats.
Worries over a deterioration in Japan's fiscal health have pushed yields of long-term Japanese government bonds to their highest levels in years.
'What's at stake isn't simply which party hands out the biggest bundle of goodies. It's whether the walls holding up Japan's house of debt can withstand another round of fiscal fireworks…' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.3 per cent to 24,517.76, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 3,503.78.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.9 per cent to 3,186.38 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8 per cent to 8,561.80.
Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.9 per cent and India's Sensex added 0.2%. Thailand's SET dropped 0.3 per cent.
In Jakarta, shares rose 0.7 per cent after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he plans to charge imports from Indonesia a tariff of 19 per cent, while American goods sent to the Southeast Asian country will face no tariffs. Trump also said Indonesia committed to buying U.S. energy, agricultural products and aircraft.
Indonesia's central bank cut its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points on Wednesday, to 5.25 per cent.
'We have calculated everything and discussed everything. The most important thing for me is my people, as I must protect the interests of our workers,' Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto told reporters, adding that 'this is our offer, and we are not able to give more (to the U.S.).'
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 79 cents to US$65.73 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 67 cents at $68.04 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 148.75 Japanese yen from 148.87 yen. The euro was steady at $1.1601.
By Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott