Stocks finished higher Wednesday as investors reacted to a twin set of Big Tech earnings while navigating headlines tied to renewed trade-war risks between Washington and Beijing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 317.24 points, or 0.71%, to end the day 44,873.28, while the S&P 500 gained 0.39% to close at 6,061.48 and the tech heavy Nasdaq added 0.19%, to finish the session at 19,692.33.
Updated at 12:45 PM EST
Turning green
Stocks are starting to shrug-off the impact of big tech declines, with the S&P 500 nudging 7 points, or 0.13% higher into the early afternoon session and the Nasdaq paring its decline to just 5 points, or 0.03%.
"There is a lot of volatility coming from Washington DC in the last week concerning tariffs," said Ken Mahoney, CEO of Mahoney Asset Management. "What remains now is China can be very ‘tricky.’ In retaliation, they could increase tariffs by 15% if a deal is not put together," he added.
Treasury bond yields were also on the move, with 10-year notes trading 5 basis points lower on the session at 4.428% and 2-year notes slipping 2 basis points to 4.181%.
Bonds ripping. Rate sensitive generally strong today.
— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) February 5, 2025
Lower dollar helping $VEU pic.twitter.com/6ge7T3Mcrl
Updated at 11:51 AM EST
Still growing
The Atlanta Fed's GDPNow forecasting tool, a real-time tracker of U.S. growth prospects, pegged its advance for the first quarter at 2.9%, down from its prior estimate of 3.9%, following a weaker-than-expected reading for service sector activity over the month of January.
ISM's headline index, which tracks the biggest-growth driver of the U.S. economy, slipped 1.2 points to 52.8, but still sits well above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.
"The drop in the headline index reflected marked declines in both the business activity index and the new orders index," said Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
"The latest decline in new orders takes that component to a seven-month low and suggests that worries about immigration and trade policy under the new administration are overriding any optimism that businesses might have about the prospect of tax cuts or deregulation," he added.
On February 5, the #GDPNow model nowcast of real GDP growth in Q1 2025 is 2.9%: https://t.co/T7FoDdgYos. #ATLFedResearch
— Atlanta Fed (@AtlantaFed) February 5, 2025
Download our EconomyNow app or go to our website for the latest GDPNow nowcast: https://t.co/NOSwMl7Jms. pic.twitter.com/O3Ha9hMTo7
Updated at 10:41 AM EST
AM-Down
AMD shares are trading at the lowest levels since October of 2023 following a muted outlook for its AI-focused data center business that clouded an otherwise solid set of fourth quarter earnings.
AMD said it sees overall revenues declining on a sequential basis this quarter, inferring a weaker demand picture for its new line of AI-powering chips, but still expects to generate "many billions" in sales from that fast-expanding division.
AMD shares were last marked 10.4% lower on the session at $107.07 each, a move that would extend the stock's one-year slump to around 38.5%.
Related: Analysts overhaul AMD stock price targets following Q4 earnings
Updated at 9:35 AM EST
Mixed open
The S&P 500 was marked 15 points, or 0.25% lower in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq falling 121 points, or 0.62%.
The Dow, meanwhile gained 7 points and the mid-cap Russell 2000 index fell gained 9 points, or 0.42%
Benchmark 10-year note yields were also, lower, slipped to 4.450%, with 2-year notes trading at 4.203% following the stronger-than-expected ADP jobs data.
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Feb. 05, 2025)$SPY -0.19% 🟥$QQQ -0.52% 🟥$DJI flat ⬜$IWM +0.58% 🟩 pic.twitter.com/hOGGV5w53o
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) February 5, 2025
Updated at 8:22 AM EST
ADP surprise
U.S. employers added 183,000 new private sector jobs last month, payroll processing group ADP report, a stronger-than-expected tally that topped Wall Street 's 150,000 forecast.
"We had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market,' said ADP economist Nela Richardson. "Consumer-facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production."
Stocks were little-changed following the update, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggesting a 26 point opening bell decline and those linked to the Nasdaq indicating a 160 point pullback.
183k ADP private payrolls. Solid. pic.twitter.com/rhtgkMTm0Y
— Mike Zaccardi, CFA, CMT 🍖 (@MikeZaccardi) February 5, 2025
Updated at 6:56 AM EST
Disney earnings impress
Walt Disney (DIS) posted stronger-than-expected December-quarter earnings and forecast solid profit gains for its current fiscal year, thanks in part to the ongoing strength in its entertainment business.
Disney+, the group's flagship streaming service, saw a modest dip is subscribers over the quarter, to 124.6 million, following an October price hike, but its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ units posted collective profit of $293 million.
The group's Experiences division, which houses its theme parks, saw solid gains from overseas offsetting the hurricane impact to its domestic business.
"We saw outstanding box office performance from our studios, which had the top three movies of 2024; we further improved the profitability of our Entertainment [direct-to-consumer] streaming businesses [and] our Experiences segment demonstrated its enduring appeal as we continue investing strategically across the globe," said CEO Bob Iger.
Disney shares were last marked 2.3% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $115.61.
Stock Market Today
Alphabet (GOOGL) , one of the heaviest weights in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, posted a disappointing set of fourth-quarter earnings last night and primed investors for a massive increase in capital spending as it continues to build its AI and cloud strategy.
Shares of the Google parent were last marked 6.82% lower in heavy premarket volume, as were shares of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) , which forecast slowing sequential growth in its data-center business.
On the trade war front, Apple (AAPL) shares were also in the frame after Bloomberg reported that officials in China are set to accelerate an antitrust probe into its App Store business.
Getty Images
The latest tech broadside from China follows a decision by President Donald Trump to add an extra levy on inbound goods and a move by the U.S. Postal Service to suspend package deliveries from the world's second-largest economy has raised the prospects of a larger trade war and added a dimension of caution to global financial markets.
Related: Nvidia stock faces fresh China concerns
Benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds rallied in overnight trading, taking their yield down to 4.476%, while 2-year notes were last pegged at 4.193%.
Gold prices, meanwhile, hit a fresh all-time high of $2,873.77 an ounce in overnight trading, while the U.S. dollar index was last marked 0.5% lower against a basket of its global currency peers and trading at 107.424.
"A weaker dollar supports gold prices. At the same time, U.S. tariffs on China and Beijing’s retaliation are ominous for the global economy, increasing the appeal of gold as a haven, said Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.
"This demand is further reinforced by renewed uncertainty in the Middle East, following Donald Trump’s comments about taking over Gaza and displacing the Palestinian population," he added.
Stocks are also on the back foot, although most of the downside pressure is coming from Big Tech names, heading into a busy slate of corporate earnings and a key reading on private sector hiring from payroll processing group ADP at 8:15 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.
Futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is up 1.92% for the year, are called 31 points lower at the start of trading, with the tech-focused Nasdaq looking at a 185-point pullback.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, is called 77 points lower, with around a third of that decline tied to Apple's 2.7% pullback.
More Wall Street Analysis:
- Goldman Sachs analysts warn on Trump tariff impact for stocks
- Analyst predicts stocks likely to join the S&P 500 in 2025
- Every major Wall Street analyst's S&P 500 forecast for 2025
In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 slipped into negative territory in midday Frankfurt trading, but was last marked 0.02% higher on the session. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.03% in London.
Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.09% lower in Tokyo, with auto shares in focus after Nissan Motor decided to abandon merger plans with domestic rival Honda.
The broader MSCI ex-Japan index, meanwhile, was marked 0.47% higher into the close of trading despite broad declines for stocks in China and Hong Kong.
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
