Stocks ended mixed Thursday as investors shifted focus from trade tensions to a busy slate of corporate earnings and tomorrow's key January jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 125.65 points, or 0.28%, to finish the session at 44,747.63, while the S&P 500 gained 0.36% to close 6,083.57 and the Nasdaq rose 0.51% to end the day at 19,791.99.
Amazon was falling in after-hours trading after the e-commerce reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and revenue, but it gave disappointing guidance for the current period.
The company earned $1.86 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $1.49 per share, while revenue totaled $187.79 billion compared with Wall Street’s call for $187.30 billion in sales.
Amazon said sales this quarter are expected to be between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, CNBC reported. Analysts were expecting $158.5 billion, according to LSEG.
“This guidance anticipates an unusually large, unfavorable impact” from foreign exchange rates, the company said. The impact amounts to $2.1 billion, or 1.5%, Amazon said.
Based on Amazon’s forecast, the company only expects revenue growth of 5% to 9% in the first quarter. At the low end of the range, that would mark the slowest growth on record.
Updated at 12:37 PM EST
Amazon on deck
Amazon shares are edging higher heading into the tech and retail giant's fourth quarter earnings after the closing bell, with investors likely focused on the group's capital spending plans for the coming year.
Analysts are looking for a bottom line of $1.49 per share on overall revenues of $187.3 billion, but are expected to fixate on the growth rate for Amazon Web Services, its flagship cloud division, and its 2025 capex tally that CEO Andy Jassy sees rising past $75 billion.
Amazon shares were last marked 0.57% higher on the session at $237.47 each, a move that extends the stock's six-month gain to around 47%.
Related: Amazon earnings on deck as AI spending plans test big tech rivals
Updated at 10:54 AM EST
Ford slump
Ford Motor shares are trading near the lowest levels in four years following last night's fourth quarter earnings update that included concerns for potential U.S. tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said the levies, which were proposed by President Donald Trump last month but delayed until early March, would have a "huge impact on our industry, with billions of dollars of industry profits wiped out, and adverse effect on the U.S. jobs."
Those comments followed a weaker-than-expected 2025 profit outlook, which Farley said did not factor in the prospect of U.S. tariffs, and a likely loss of around $5.5 billion from its fledgling EV and software division.
Ford shares were last marked 6.1% lower on the session at $9.40 each, pegging the stock nearly the lowest levels since January of 2021.
Ford, $F, Q4 2024. Results:
— EarningsTime (@Earnings_Time) February 5, 2025
🔴 -5% Post-Market ($9.48)
📊 Adj. EPS: $0.39 🟢
💰 Revenue: $48.20B 🟢
📈 Net Income: $1.82B
🔎 Record annual revenue of $185B, driven by strong Ford Pro performance (+15% YoY revenue growth) and cost optimizations in Model e. pic.twitter.com/WM0GwaDMFF
Updated at 9:36 AM EST
Green open
The S&P 500 was marked 14 points, or 0.23% higher in the opening minutes of trading while the Nasdaq edged 19 points or 0.09% into the green.
The Dow gained 65 points with the mid-cap Russell 2000 rising 9 points, or 0.4%.
Markets have been teetering of late right near the all-time highs and just cannot seem to find buyers to cross the finish line. No question we believe the time is coming for new highs to be achieved, specifically on the SPX 500, Industrials and Nasdaq," said Bob Lang, found and chief options analyst at Explosive Options.
"Sooner rather than later, as the indicators intermediate term continue to support the effort. February is notoriously weak historically after a strong January, but there are several days left to play out and plenty of news as well," he added.
S&P 500 Opening Bell Heatmap (Feb. 06, 2025)$SPY +0.24% 🟩$QQQ flat ⬜$DJI +0.14% 🟩$IWM +0.53% 🟩 pic.twitter.com/bBdsLdqs5F
— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) February 6, 2025
Updated at 8:58 AM EST
Honeywell breakup
Honeywell shares moved lower in premarket trading after the industrial conglomerate issued a muted near-term sales and profit forecast that clouded news of its plans to separate into three new listed companies.
Honeywell, which has been facing pressure from activist shareholders and had already unveiled plans to split its materials division from the broader group, will now create two further companies focused on aerospace and automation.
"Our simplification of has rapidly advanced over the past year, and we will continue to shape our portfolio to create further shareholder value," said CEO Vimal Kapur. "We have a rich pipeline of strategic bolt-on acquisition targets, and we plan to continue deploying capital to further enhance each business as we prepare them to become leading, independent public companies."
Honeywell shares were marked 2.9% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $216.00 each.
$HON Honeywell sees FY25 adjusted EPS $10.10-$10.50, consensus $10.91
— DonCorleone77 (@CorleoneDon77) February 6, 2025
Sees FY25 revenue $39.6B-$40.6B, consensus $41.26B. The company said, "Honeywell also announced its outlook for 2025. The company expects sales of $39.6 billion to $40.6 billion with organic sales growth in…
Updated at 8:32 AM EST
Tame jobless claims
Around 219,000 Americans filed for first-time jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department report, an 11,000 increase from the prior period that topped the Street's 213,000 forecast.
The lift takes the four-week average to around 216,750, a higher but not especially elevated level heading into tomorrow's January jobs report.
Economists expected a headline tally of 169,000, down from December's 256,000 print, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.1%.
Benchmark 2-year Treasury note yields were little-changed at 4.210% while 10-year paper was trading at 4.438% following the data release.
🇺🇸 United States Continuing Jobless Claims $USD
— PiQ (@PiQSuite) February 6, 2025
Actual: 1,886K
Expected: 1,870K
Previous: 1,850K
Updated at 7:13 AM EST
Bank of England rate cut
The Bank of England, as expected, lowered its benchmark Bank Rate by a 0.25 percentage point to 4.5%, following its regular policy meeting in London.
The rate cut, the bank's third since 2020, follows a run of elevated inflation readings and slowing growth in Britain's post-Brexit economy, with price pressures are expected to hold well above the bank's 2% target for the remainder of the year.
"We need to be confident that inflation will remain low and stable in a lasting way," the Bank said in a statement. "The Monetary Policy Committee will decide carefully by how much and when it can cut interest rates."
The pound slipped 0.4% following the BoE move to trade at 1.2376 against the U.S. dollar, while the FTSE 100 extended gains and rose to a fresh all-time high of 8,759 points in London.
The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of 7-2 to reduce #BankRate to 4.5%.
— Bank of England (@bankofengland) February 6, 2025
Find out more in our #MonetaryPolicyReport https://t.co/alETrQ281L pic.twitter.com/Vuo5G6m1H8
Updated at 6:54 AM EST
Lilly boost
Eli Lilly (LLY) shares moved higher in early trading after the drugmaker's fourth quarter earnings update included a modest revenue miss but a robust 2025 profit outlook.
Eli Lilly, which markets the Zepbound and Mounjaro obesity treatments, sees full-year earnings in the region of $22.50 to $24 a share, topping Wall Street forecasts. For the final three months of last year, the group earned $5.32 a share on revenue of $13.53 billion.
"We enter 2025 with tremendous momentum and look forward to strong financial performance and several important Phase 3 readouts, which if positive will further accelerate our long-term growth," said CEO David Ricks.
Eli Lilly shares were marked 3.06% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $867.97.
$LLY Q4 Results:
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) February 6, 2025
• Revenue: $13.53B, +45% YoY (Est: $13.45B)
• Trulicity: $1.25B, -25% YoY (Est: $1.36B)
• Mounjaro: $3.53B
• Zepbound: $1.91B, +52% QoQ
• Humalog: $619.9M, +69% YoY (Est: $500.1M)
• Taltz: $952.0M, +21% YoY (Est: $943.3M)
• Verzenio: $1.56B, +36% YoY…
Stock Market Today
Stocks ended higher on Wednesday amid a pullback in Treasury bond yields tied in part to solid, but not runaway, data on services growth and private sector job creation.
Tech stocks were held down by big declines for Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and AI-chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) following muted outlooks that clouded their solid fourth quarter earnings updates.
Amazon (AMZN) will round out the tech earnings run this week with its fourth quarter update after the close of trading, with investors likely focused on the tech and retail giant's capita spending plans for the coming year.
Several non-tech companies will also publish fourth quarter updates prior to the opening bell as a solid earnings season — which is likely to see collective S&P 500 profits rise 11.5% to $529.1 billion — hits the midway mark.
Bristol-Myers (BMY) , Honeywell (HON) , Eli Lilly (LLY) and L'Oreal (LRLCY) are all on deck this morning. The Labor Department is set to publish its weekly data on jobless claims heading into tomorrow's January jobs report.
On that end, benchmark Treasury bond yields were modestly lower heading into the start of the New York trading session. The market move was tied in part to comments from new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told Fox News that he and President Donald Trump's are targeting lower market rates, not Fed policy.
“He is not calling for the Fed to lower rates. He and I are focused on the 10-year Treasury,” Bessent said.
Related: Goldman Sachs analysts warn on Trump tariff impact for stocks
Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest a 6-point opening-bell gain, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average priced for a 56-point bump.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is called 5 points higher with Nvidia (NVDA) , Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC) active in premarket trading.
Ford Motor (F) shares were a notable early mover, falling 5.8% in premarket trading to $9.42 after a disappointing fourth-quarter update last night included a profit forecast for 2025 lower than the previous year.
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, both major benchmarks in Europe hit fresh all-time highs, with the Stoxx 600 last marked 0.8% higher and Britain's FTSE 100 rising 1.24% in London ahead of today's Bank of England rate decision.
Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.61% in a follow-on move from last night's gains on Wall Street, with the regional MSCI ex-Japan index rising 0.49% into the close of trading.
Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
