Wall Street edged higher and the dollar gained ground on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted he would be flexible regarding a new round of tariffs expected to be imposed early next month.

Market Snapshot

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31.88 points, or 0.08%, to 41,985.20, the S&P 500 rose 4.55 points, or 0.08%, to 5,667.44 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 92.43 points, or 0.52%, to 17,784.05. Tesla Motors rose 5%, Palantir Technologies Inc. rose 4%, Apple rose 2%.

Market Movers

FedEx reported fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings that missed analysts' estimates and cut its fiscal-year profit guidance, citing "continued weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy, which is constraining demand" for the company's business-to-business services. Shares of the shipping giant fell 6.5%.

FedEx said it expects fiscal-year earnings of between $18 and $18.60 a share, down from a previous forecast of $19 to $20. Revenue, the company said, would be slightly down from last year, compared with a prior forecast for roughly flat sales. Loop Capital analyst Rick Paterson downgraded the stock to Sell from Hold. Rival United Parcel Service declined 1.6%.

Micron Technology was down 8% after the memory-chip maker reported fiscal second-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street estimates. Micron said data-center revenue in the period tripled from a year earlier. The company also issued third-quarter guidance that was better than expected. Micron anticipates third-quarter revenue of $8.8 billion, plus or minus $200 million, versus analysts' expectations of $8.48 billion.

Sportswear company Nike fell 5.5% after reporting fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings that topped analysts' expectations but warning that overhaul efforts would take a toll on revenue and profitability growth. For its current fourth quarter, Nike expects revenue to be down in the low midteens range, versus a decline of 12% expected by analysts. Gross margins will be down about four to five percentage points.

Boeing rose 3.1% after the U.S. military awarded the company a key contract to build the latest generation of jet fighters over rival Lockheed Martin. Lockheed shares declined 5.8%.

Fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings at Lennar beat Wall Street forecasts but shares were down 4% after the home builder warned of a weak housing market. That weak market led to a decline in home sale prices during the quarter, said Lennar Executive Chairman and co-CEO Stuart Miller.

Shares of quantum-computing stocks D-Wave Quantum Inc., Rigetti Computing, and IONQ Inc., traded mixed after tumbling Thursday following the inaugural Quantum Day during Nvidia's annual GTC conference. D-Wave Quantum was the steepest decliner Thursday, falling 18%. In trading Friday, D-Wave was down 3.8%. The companies were given the spotlight at the event, but the stocks sank after the quantum-computing pure-plays were loathe to talk timelines around future use cases and failed to issue any big announcements.

Quantum Computing, which wasn't at the Nvidia event, was flat. The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $62,000, down from $75,000 a year earlier, while operating expenses climbed to $8.9 million from $6.6 million. Quantum Computing also reported a loss of 47 cents a share, wider than the loss of 9 cents a share reported a year earlier. The stock fell 12% on Thursday.

NVIDIA, meanwhile, fell 0.7%. It ended Thursday's session up 0.9%.

SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC rose 7.8% to $42.16 after shares of the maker of AI servers was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at J.P. Morgan with a price target of $45, up from $35. The analysts said Super Micro soon would be benefiting from the ramp in Nvidia Blackwell-based server shipments.

NIO Inc., the Chinese electric-vehicle maker, missed Wall Street's revenue forecast for the fourth quarter and issued disappointing guidance. U.S.-listed shares of NIO were down 4.5%.

Carnival reported fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street forecasts and said it anticipates adjusted earnings in the current fiscal year to increase more than 30% from the year earlier. The stock, however, fell 1.2%, as guidance came in slightly below expectations and macroeconomic uncertainty appeared to be weighing on investors' minds.

Nucor fell 5.8% after the steel maker said it expects first-quarter earnings of 50 cent to 60 cents a share, well below expectations of $1.05. Nucor expects earnings during the period in its steel mills segment in line with the fourth quarter of 2024, while earnings in the steel products segment, the company said, would fall from a year earlier "due primarily to lower average selling prices."

U.S. Steel also issued guidance late Thursday. The company expects first-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, of $125 million, better than Wall Street's estimate for $119 million. Shares were down 0.4% after fluctuating throughout the session.

Luminar Technologies, Inc. jumped 33% after reporting a narrower-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and revenue of $22.5 million that beat estimates of $17.8 million. Adjusted gross profit in the quarter was $14 million; Wall Street expected a loss of about $12 million.

Market News

Nvidia Decline After GTC Shows Growing Investor Disconnect

The decline in NVIDIA's share price after its GTC event this week highlights a growing disconnect by investors from the company's fundamentals, Barron's said on Friday.

Nvidia shares are trading at 26 times projected earnings, an "undemanding" valuation for a company that is expected to grow revenue 57% year-over-year, reporter Tae Kim wrote. Much of the disconnect is due to three reasons, Kim opined, all of which Nvidia has addressed: the rise of application specific integrated circuits; the threat of tariffs; and the worry that demand for artificial intelligence accelerators could slow, especially after the release of DeepSeek's (DEEPSEEK) R1 model earlier this year.

Boeing Spikes, Lockheed Slumps as Trump Awards Key Fighter Jet Contract

Boeing +3% and Lockheed Martin -6% in Friday's trading as President Trump reportedly has awarded Boeing a contract to build the U.S. Air Force's most sophisticated fighter jet, known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD.

The engineering and manufacturing development contract is worth more than $20B, and the winner eventually would receive hundreds of billions of dollars in orders over the contract's multi-decade lifetime.

The NGAD program will replace Lockheed's F-22 Raptor, with a crewed aircraft built to enter combat alongside drones; the plane's design remains a closely held secret, but likely would include stealthiness, advanced sensors, and cutting-edge engines.