Wall Street drifts around its records ahead of a big week for profit reports

CTV News

21-07-2025

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are drifting on Monday ahead of a week full of profit updates from big U.S. companies, which Wall Street expects to keep growing despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
The S&P 500 was 0.3 per cent higher in early trading and just above its all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 52 points, or 0.1 per cent, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was adding 0.4 per cent to its own record.
Verizon Communications helped lead the way and rose three per cent. The telecom reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, along with higher revenue than forecast. Following the strong performance, Verizon raised its forecasts for profit and other financial measures for the full year.
It helped offset a 0.4 per cent dip for Microsoft, which issued an emergency fix to close off a vulnerability in its SharePoint software that hackers have exploited to carry out widespread attacks on businesses and at least some federal agencies.
Block, Jack Dorsey's company behind Square, Cash App and other tech brands, jumped 6.7 per cent in its first trading after learning it will join the widely followed and imitated S&P 500 index before trading begins on Wednesday. It will replace Hess, which Chevron bought.
Cleveland-Cliffs rallied 6.8 per cent after the steel producer reported a smaller loss for the spring than analysts expected. It shipped a record 4.3 million net tons of steel during the quarter, and CEO Lourenco Goncalves said the company has begun to see 'the positive impact that tariffs have on domestic manufacturing' and other things.
It's a major supplier to the auto industry, and Trump's tariffs steer companies hoping to sell cars in the United States toward steel made in the country.
Other companies, though, are navigating the downsides and complications of tariffs, which raise prices on all kinds of things imported to the United States. That includes General Motors, which will report its latest profit results later this week, along with such market heavyweights as Alphabet, Coca-Cola and Tesla.
Many of Trump's stiff proposed tariffs are currently on pause after Trump extended the deadline for talks with other countries in order to give more time to reach potential trade deals that could lower the tax rates. The next big deadline, at least for now, is Aug. 1.
It's still early days in this earnings reporting season, but most big U.S. companies have been topping analysts' expectations, as is usually the case. Some encouraging undertones may also be emerging.
An upward inflection in demand for travel that United Airlines said it's seen recently, combined with some better-than-expected data on U.S. retail sales, may indicate that U.S. consumers remain in decent health and could continue to support the economy, Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian said in a BofA Global Research report.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.38 per cent from 4.44 per cent late Friday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes slipped across much of Europe after finishing modestly higher in much of Asia.
Markets were closed for a holiday in Japan, where the ruling Liberal Democrats have lost their coalition majorities in both houses of parliament for the first time since 1955 following Sunday's upper house election and the loss of their lower house majority in October.
A grim Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to stay on after the drubbing by voters frustrated over rising prices and political instability. Analysts said they expect his weakened government to crank up spending, adding to Japan's huge debt burden.
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AP business writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
By Stan Choe