Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Pre-market futures remain up big after a welcome surge in Tuesday trading. Yesterday’s session saw major indexes grow +2.5% or more, making up most of the losses that took down the stock market Monday. The Dow is up +720 points at this hour, the S&P 500 +130, the Nasdaq +550 and the small-cap Russell 2000 is +50 points.
Much of the markets’ attitude seems tethered to public statements made by President Trump. On Monday, he rattled his saber against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who last week said tariff policy was expected to challenge the economy, but on Tuesday, Trump said nothing. This morning, the president says he has “no intention” of firing Powell (it remains unclear whether that’s in the president’s jurisdiction), and — voilà! — suddenly markets are rising again.
Trump also suggested that the +145% tariff on Chinese imports to the U.S. will at some point be rolled back (at an unspecified date). Chinese goods coming into this country amounted to $440 billion last year; this would be a major relief to see these rates not come to pass, even if it means the return of American manufacturing may take longer than previously expected.
Tesla TSLA shares ramped up +7% as of yesterday’s conference call following the EV major’s Q1 earnings and revenue miss due to CEO Elon Musk telling investors that the time spent on the White House’s DOGE project (reducing federal payrolls and agencies) will be “significantly” reduced as of May. Tesla has missed earnings estimates in every quarter but one, going back to mid-2023.
Q1 Earnings Highlights: Boeing & Vertiv
Aircraft producer
Boeing BA shares are up +5% in pre-market activity this morning, reporting beats on both top and bottom lines in its Q1 report. Earnings per share loss of -$0.49 was much better than the -$1.51 per share in the Zacks consensus, for a +68% positive surprise. This is the first earnings beat for Boeing in the past four quarters.
Revenues outpaced expectations by +1% to $19.5 billion from $19.29 billion anticipated. Perhaps even more importantly, estimates for a quarterly cash burn of $4 billion came in closer to $2 billion, suggesting the major plane maker may at last be getting its house in order. CEO Kelly Ortberg took the reins back in early August of last year. For more on BA’s earnings, click here.
Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.Data center services firm
Vertiv VRT beat estimates on both top and bottom lines in its Q1 and even raised guidance (when’s the last time you heard that?) this morning, beating earnings estimates by 2 cents to $0.64 per share on $20.4 billion in revenues, which outperformed projections by +6.24% and represent +24% growth year over year. Shares are up +18% on the news, taking a bite out of its -36% share price year to date. For more on VRT’s earnings, click here.
What to Expect from the Stock Market Today
After the opening bell, we stay fairly busy today:
S&P flash U.S. Services and Manufacturing PMI for April are due out, as well as
New Home Sales for March. Both PMI metrics are expected to come down somewhat month over month, including a sub-50 read for Manufacturing. (Sub-50 on these figures indicates retraction.) The housing market is expected to come in higher month over month, to +685K new homes sold last month from +676K previously.
Also, a new
Beige Book comes out from the Federal Reserve. This serves as an 8-times-yearly economic report on each of the 12 regions in the Fed. Only one of these regions saw a decline in the prior Beige Book; three were flat and eight showed modest growth. All of this information will likely reflect pre-tariff economic results.
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The Boeing Company (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report Tesla, Inc. (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report Vertiv Holdings Co. (VRT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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