MARKETS
Stock Market and Stocks
U.S. stock futures were little changed Friday after China increased its tariffs on U.S. imports to 125%. Stocks swooned Thursday on fears President Donald Trump‘s triple-digit tariff on China will significantly damage the U.S. economy and corporate profits.
Trump kept his 10% tariff on all countries but put reciprocal tariffs on hold for 90 days for all countries except China. Because China retaliated with an 84% tariff, Trump raised his tariff on Chinese goods to a total 145%.
“While it was positive that most tariffs were lowered to 10%, the 145% tariff on China will still impair corporate profits,” said Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. “The $440 billion of goods the U.S. imported from China last year was second only to Mexico. Those low production-cost goods, whether they are technology, apparel, or materials, are important to corporate earnings. The auto and metals tariffs remain in place, and pharma and semiconductor tariffs are on deck. Exemptions may be coming, but they are not here yet.”
At 6 a.m. ET, blue-chip Dow futures added 0.32%, broad S&P 500 futures gained 0.45%, and tech-laden Nasdaq futures rose 0.57%.
On Friday, JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock will kick off earnings season. They will provide the first window into how businesses and consumers may be handling the tariff rollercoaster and how they see tariffs unfolding this year.
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On the economic front, the March producer price index report and April preliminary University of Michigan consumer sentiment data are due. Producer prices are what businesses pay for their goods and services and sometimes seen as the first line for inflation to show up.
Meanwhile, the sentiment survey will be scrutinized to see if consumers continue feel gloomier or better about the economy and their finances. Recently, consumer sentiment has plunged.
Corporate news
- Novartis said Thursday it will spend $23 billion over the next five years to expand in the U.S. The drugmaker expects this will create about 1,000 new jobs at Novartis, and lead to around 4,000 other jobs in the U.S. outside of Novartis. The company will be able to make domestically all of its medicines for the U.S., it added.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
