Copper on pace for worst day since April 4
Copper was last down 6.3%, on pace for its worst day going back to April 4 when the commodity fell 8.83%. The metal hit a fresh low of 4.5240, its lowest level since April 14th when copper traded as low as 4.5205.
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@HG.1, 1-day
The unexpected contraction of the U.S. economy during the first quarter shown in Wednesday’s data from the Commerce Department came amid a “perfect storm,” according to Paul Stanley, chief investment officer at Granite Bay Wealth Management. But he cautioned against jumping to conclusions on the country’s economic future.
“Wednesday’s GDP print showed the economy contracted during the first quarter as a perfect storm of factors took shape, including tariff uncertainty and DOGE spending cuts,” Stanley said, using the acronym for the Department of Government Efficiency.
“While it’s unsettling to see a negative GDP print, the jury is still out on if the economy will enter a recession,” he added. “There are still two more first quarter GDP estimates coming over the next few months that will provide a better picture on how the economy fared in the first quarter”
— Alex Harring
President Donald Trump cast blame of his predecessor, Joe Biden, as the stock market wrapped up a tumultuous month and new Commerce Department data showed the U.S. economy unexpectedly shrunk in the first quarter.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in a Wednesday post.
“Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang,'” Trump’s post reads. “This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
— Alex Harring
Stocks traded lower on Wednesday morning after the latest gross domestic product figures and private payrolls data signaled a slowing U.S. economy.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 408 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 2%.
— Sean Conlon
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 29, 2025.
NYSE
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The IWM ETF, 1-day
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell.
First Solar — The solar panel manufacturer tumbled 13% after First Solar posted first-quarter earnings of $1.95 per share, missing the $2.49 analysts polled by LSEG had penciled in. First Solar also guided for second-quarter and full year earnings that were below expectations.
Snap — Shares tumbled 15% after the tech company declined to provide a forecast, citing macroeconomic uncertainties that could affect advertising demand. Nonetheless, Snap reported better-than-expected top-line results for the first quarter. The company posted revenue of $1.36 billion, slightly higher than the $1.35 billion expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Losses came in at 8 cents per share.
Super Micro Computer — The server maker saw its shares plunge more than 18% following weaker-than-expected preliminary results for the fiscal third quarter, which ended on March 31.
The full list can be found here.
— Hakyung Kim
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One as he departs for Michigan to attend a rally to celebrate his first 100 days in office, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., April 29, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The U.S. economy contracted in the first three months of 2025, fueling recession fears at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in office as he wages a potentially costly trade war.
Gross domestic product, a sum of all the goods and services produced from January through March, fell at a 0.3% annualized pace, according to a Commerce Department report Wednesday adjusted for seasonal factors and inflation. This was the first quarter of negative growth since Q1 of 2022.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a gain of 0.4% after GDP rose by 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, over the past day or so some Wall Street economists changed their outlook to negative growth, largely due to an unexpected rise in imports as companies and consumers sought to get ahead of the Trump tariffs implemented in early April.
— Jeff Cox
Companies slowed hiring sharply in April as they braced against potential impacts from President Donald Trump’s tariffs against U.S. trading partners, ADP reported Wednesday.
Private sector payrolls rose by just 62,000 for the month, the smallest gain since July 2024, amid heightened uncertainty over the degree of the tariffs and the impact they would have on hiring plans and broader economic conditions.
The total marked a deceleration from the downwardly revised gain of 147,000 in March and missed the Dow Jones consensus estimate for an increase of 120,000.
— Jeff Cox
Etsy shares jumped more than 1% in premarket trading on the heels of the company’s first-quarter revenue topping Wall Street’s expectations.
The company posted $651 million in revenue for the period, above the $643 million that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting.
It also said that it’s “staying nimble in the face of uncertainty given recent tariff announcements and the fluid state of consumer confidence in our core markets.”
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ETSY, 1-day
— Annie Palmer, Sean Conlon
Shares of beauty and tech retailer Oddity Tech surged about 17% in the premarket after its first-quarter earnings and revenue surpassed analyst estimates.
The company also raised its earnings and revenue forecast for 2025, saying that the headwinds related to President Donald Trump’s tariffs are “expected to be manageable and largely offset by cost efficiencies.”
The stock is on pace to close out April with gains, having risen about 9% month to date. The S&P 500, by comparison, has fallen about 1% in the same period.
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ODD, 1-day
— Gabrielle Fonrouge, Sean Conlon
In a Wednesday note, Citi analyst Paul Lejuez upgraded eyewear retailer Warby Parker to a neutral rating from sell. However, Lejuez simultaneously lowered his target price to $17 from $23.
The analyst’s revised forecast is approximately 8% above where the stock closed on Tuesday. Shares of Warby Parker have plunged 35% so far this year. The analyst said that the stock’s recent pullback may be nearing its bottom.
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WRBY YTD chart
“With shares down 41% since Feb 5, we believe the market has priced in near-term tariff pressures,” he wrote.
Lejuez added: “WRBY sells products that are medically necessary, and their optical labs are located in the U.S. However, 20% of WRBY’s COGS are sourced from China, and their mitigation efforts will likely set the stage for the rest of F25, as they will need to shift sourcing geographies for frames and/or increase price to offset the impact from tariffs. This is likely to cause some near-term margin pressure and volatility in results, which we believe the market now appropriately reflects, resulting in a more balanced risk/reward.”
— Lisa Kailai Han
Cowboys herd cattle onto a trailer to be exported to the United States, as Mexican cattle ranchers await clarification on the implementation of the new export trade tariffs announced by the U.S., at the Chihuahua Regional Livestock Union, in Nuevo Palomas, Mexico, March 4, 2025.
Jose Luis Gonzalez | Reuters
June live cattle futures rose to an all-time high of $2.10975 per pound on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday, bringing the year-to-date advance to 12.2%. Each of the contacts, which began trading in late 1964, represents 40,000 pounds of live cattle.
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June live cattle futures over the past year.
— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla
Several companies were making headlines after Tuesday’s market close. Here are a few:
- Starbucks — Shares of the coffee giant slipped 4% after Starbucks missed earnings and revenue estimates for its fiscal second quarter. The company also reported same-store sales figures that reflected a decline for the fifth straight quarter. Starbucks posted adjusted earnings per share of 41 cents on $8.76 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by LSEG expected 49 cents in earnings per share on $8.82 billion in revenue.
- First Solar — Shares of the solar technology company dropped 10% after First Solar offered weak guidance for the full year. The company sees earnings for the period ranging between $12.50 and $17.50 per share, while analysts polled by LSEG sought $18.14 per share. First-quarter earnings also missed the mark.
- Booking Holdings — Shares of the online travel booking services provider shed 3%. Gross bookings for the first quarter came in at $46.7 billion, only narrowly topping the $46.53 billion StreetAccount consensus estimate. Booking Holdings’ top- and bottom-line results for the period firmly beat expectations, however
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
