S&P 500 futures are flat after Trump delays new tariffs, Wall Street heads for winning week: Live updates – CNBC
Source: CNBC
The S&P 500 was little changed on Friday in a pause from a strong performance this week, as investors weighed the latest on the global trade and inflation fronts.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 165.35 points, or 0.37%, closing at 44,546.08. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.01% to 6,114.63, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.41% to close at 20,026.77.
The three major averages ended the week in the green, as sentiment improved after investors got more certainty around President Donald Trump’s tariff plans, while new inflation data wound up being more constructive than first thought. Traders also shrugged off data released Friday that reflected a 0.9% slump in retail sales for January, worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.
This week, the S&P 500 added about 1.5%, while the Dow advanced roughly 0.6%. The Nasdaq was 2.6% higher on the week.
A chunk of the week’s advance came Thursday after Trump signed a memorandum on laying out a plan to impose levies on goods from countries with duties on U.S. products, instead of implementing immediate tariffs.
Sentiment appeared to calm after January’s producer price index report, released Thursday, as well as the consumer price index report released Wednesday, suggested a softer reading for the personal consumption expenditures price index. The PCE price index, which is due later this month, is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
“It looks like the economy and inflation aren’t runaway accelerating, causing pressure on rates,” said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. He said the recent move downward in the 10-year Treasury yield is “improving breadth, but it’s also lifting asset prices on the equity side because of that correlation dynamic.”
The 10-year Treasury yield continued to slide Friday, recently dropping nearly 5 basis points lower to 4.478%.
The S&P 500 ended the session little changed on Friday.
The S&P 500 edged lower by 0.01% to end at 6,114.63, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.41% to 20,026.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 165.35 points, or 0.37%, to close at 44,546.08.
The influence of the “Magnificent Seven” on earnings growth among U.S.-based companies is dwindling by the quarter, according to JPMorgan.
The firm found that the earnings growth spread between Magnificent Seven stocks and the rest of the S&P 500 fell to 20% in the fourth quarter. That’s the narrowest difference since the first quarter of 2023, when it came in at 10%.
“While still a meaningful driver of U.S. earnings growth, the contribution of Mag-7 is diminishing, with some of the group having underwhelmed this quarter,” analyst Mislav Matejka wrote. “The spread between Mag-7 and S&P 500 ex Mag-7 earnings growth has reduced to the smallest in the last 7 quarters.”
Wells Fargo is standing behind Iron Mountain after a rough week.
Shares have dropped about 10% so far this week. That would mark its worst weekly performance since 2022.
A large chunk of the decline came Thursday after the company posted slightly weaker-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter. But it also took a hit earlier in the week after Elon Musk pointed to its mine where government retirement records are stored as an example of government inefficiency.
But Wells Fargo analyst Eric Luebchow told investors to see this pullback as a buying opportunity. He has an overweight rating and a price target of $125, which implies upside of more than 31% over Thursday’s close.
“IRM earnings checked a lot of boxes,” he said. In addition to “calmed nerves” around Musk’s task force called the Department of Government Efficiency, he said the report showed a strong data center pipeline and growth either in line with or ahead of expectations.
Although investors were relieved after Thursday’s tariff announcements, any aggressive moves could ultimately lead to retaliation from U.S. trading partners and weigh on stocks, according to UBS.
“Markets will be watching closely for any shifts toward full enforcement, as a broad implementation of tariffs would raise inflation risks and likely weigh on equities, and have the potential to dent, but not derail, U.S. economic growth,” said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer Americas for UBS Global Wealth Management.
UBS has a base-case scenario of “selective tariffs” and expects targeted and negotiation-driven tariff outcomes. “There are risks of a tit-for-tat ratcheting up of measures,” Marcelli wrote in a Friday note to clients.
The S&P 500 historically turns green, not red, on Valentine’s Day.
In all of the past Valentine’s Day trading sessions, the broad market index has only dipped into negative territory seven times, according to the Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick. The average gains come to around 0.28%, with a 63.2% positive rate.
That being said, investors usually tend to “swipe left” on the market after Valentine’s Day. The second half of February typically markets a weak period for the S&P 500.
Dell shares
Read more: Click here