Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Well, we started off great, at least. Pre-market futures got off to a roaring start after overseas markets expressed optimism that trade deals with the U.S. were nigh. Talks were already ongoing with trade leaders in Japan, and the Nikkei finished up +6% as a result. This was no guarantee of anything, but hey — it’s a start.

Then, around mid-day, President Trump’s press secretary stepped out to make plain the trade war is definitely on with China: an additional +50% tariffs on Chinese imports are now getting levied as of midnight tonight. China retaliated against the U.S. adding a +34% tariff on Chinese imports last Wednesday with a +34% tariff of its own on U.S. exports. Initially, +20% was put onto Chinese imports earlier, which now brings Chinese imports to +104% in tariffs.

This news wasn’t good for Apple AAPL, which makes its iPhones in China. The stock fell an extra -5% in today’s trading session, putting the company’s market losses at greater than -22% since this time last week. This mounts to a loss of roughly -$700 billion in market capitalization — among the largest share value losses of any company in history.

News wasn’t all bad for Wall Street, however: an unexpected hike in payouts to Medicare Advantage has bolstered major healthcare insurers, particularly Humana HUM, which gained +10% on the day, and UnitedHealthcare UNH, which concluded the session up +5.4%.

But the S&P 500 has now closed sub-5000 for the first time in nearly a full year. The Volatility Index (VIX), what market participants call the “fear gauge,” jumped another +11.4% today, +244% from this time a year ago to 52.33. The 10-year bond yield accelerated up 10 basis points (bps) on the session to +4.23%, while the 2-year bond yield found a bottom at +3.67% and closed at +3.73%.

In all, the Dow swung from up +1461 points early today to -320 points, -0.84%, at the close. The S&P 500 shed another -79 points, -1.57%, while the Nasdaq tumbled another -335 points, -2.15%. The small-cap Russell 2000 got rocked again: -67 points, -3.73% for the session.
 

What to Expect from the Stock Market Wednesday

The unofficial kick-off to Q1 earnings season begins tomorrow morning — although Zacks Director of Research Sheraz Mian would say Q1 earnings season began a couple weeks ago when Nike NKE, FedEx FDX and a few other big names reported — when Delta Air Lines DAL announces results. Delta is expected to make a nickel less that Q1 of the previous year, with revenues slightly in the positive year over year to $13.80 billion. The airline has missed on earnings in two of its last three quarters, however.

Check out the updated Zacks Earnings Calendar here.

Tomorrow afternoon, the minutes to the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will be released. Often, there will be some details not covered in the Fed’s statement when it issues new policy in these minutes, and tomorrow we will be looking to see how much potential tariffs in the global trade market were being considered, if at all. 

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Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

NIKE, Inc. (NKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Humana Inc. (HUM) : Free Stock Analysis Report

FedEx Corporation (FDX) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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