LDN - Business

Wall Street rises as corporate profits pile higher along with uncertainty about Trump's trade war

[April 30, 2025] By STAN CHOE

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose again Tuesday as stronger-than-expected profits kept piling higher for companies, though CEOs said they’re unsure how long that can last because of uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s trade war.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to extend its winning streak to a sixth day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 300 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5%.

Honeywell International helped lead the market with a gain of 5.4% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Perhaps even more importantly for investors, it also raised its forecast for profit over the full year.

“Though we have not yet seen it in our results, we recognize we face an uncertain global demand environment for the remainder of 2025, and our company will work tirelessly, leveraging all tools available to us, to deliver for customers and shareholders,” CEO Vimal Kapur said.

Sherwin-Williams rose 4.8% for another one of the market’s bigger gains after the paint and coatings company likewise reported a better-than-expected profit.

CEO Heidi Petz said it expects to see softness from some of its customers persist well into the second half of this year, but she also said her company gets the majority of its raw materials from the regions where it manufactures. That could help blunt the possible impact from tariffs.

Other stocks weren’t as strong, even though their companies reported stronger-than-expected profits.

Much like the broader market, UPS stock swung between losses and gains at the day’s start of trading after it reported a stronger profit than analysts expected for the first three months of 2025. Because it’s the world’s largest package delivery company, UPS can offer a window into how the global economy is doing.

But UPS also said it wasn’t updating its financial forecasts previously given for 2025 because of “the current macro-economic uncertainty.” It also said it expects to cut about 20,000 jobs and close 73 buildings this year as part of a cost-cutting effort that CEO Carol Tomé said “could not be timelier.” Its stock finished 0.4% lower.

Investors fear Trump’s tariffs could bring a recession if left unaltered because they could freeze global trade and send prices higher for all kinds of products. And Trump’s on-again-off-again rollout could by itself throw into disarray the long-term plans for spending and investment by businesses and households.

U.S. households are getting much more pessimistic because of tariffs, and a report from the Conference Board on Tuesday said their expectations for income, business and job market conditions dropped to the lowest level since 2011 and are well below the level that usually signals a recession ahead.

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Specialist James Denaro works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said such economic uncertainty is a tool Trump can use as he negotiates tariffs and trade deals. “President Trump creates what I would call strategic uncertainty in the negotiations,” he told reporters at the White House.

The latest zigzag may be arriving for the U.S. auto industry after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will sign an executive order Tuesday relaxing some of his 25% auto tariffs.

General Motors nevertheless slipped 0.6% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company rescheduled a conference call with investors to discuss its results and forecasts for 2025 to Thursday because of “recent reports regarding updates to trade policy.”

JetBlue Airways’ stock bounced between losses and gains after CEO Joanna Geraghty said the airline was puling its financial forecasts for the full year given “the macroeconomic uncertainty.” The airline also delivered a stronger profit than expected for the latest quarter. Its stock accelerated later in the day and finished 2.7% higher.

Coca-Cola also overcame an early drop to rise 0.8%. The beverage giant reported better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter and said the impact of tariffs on its business are likely to be “manageable.” Coke updated some of its financial forecasts for the year but left alone its guidance for an important underlying measure of revenue growth.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 32.08 points to 5,560.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 300.03 to 40,527.62, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 95.18 to 17,461.32.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped to 4.17% from 4.23% late Monday.

Not only did the report on consumer confidence come in weaker than expected, so did an update on how many job openings U.S. employers were advertising at the end of March. Such weaker-than-expected data could eventually push the Federal Reserve to resume cutting interest rates in order to give the economy a boost.

Yields have largely been sinking since an unsettling, unusual spurt higher earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond market’s reputation as a safe place to park cash.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest moves across Europe and Asia.

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AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

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