- Fed Reprieve, Trade Talks Help Set Up Relief Rally: Markets Wrap
Stocks jumped and the dollar edged up as the Trump administration defused some of the tension that had
rattled financial markets in recent sessions. A gauge of the dollar advanced for a second day
and Treasuries rose after President Donald Trump said he doesn’t plan to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome
Powell. Asian shares gained along with equity-index futures for Europe and the US as optimism grew about
tariff discussions with India and Japan and a de-escalation of trade tensions with China. Tesla Inc. shares rose
in after hours as Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he will step back “significantly” from the Department
of Government Efficiency. - Dow jumps 1,000 points Tuesday to snap four-day string of losses
Stocks rallied Tuesday on hopes that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease soon, as investors recovered from
the steep declines suffered in the previous session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,016.57 points, or
2.66%, to close at 39,186.98. The S&P 500 gained 2.51% and settled at 5,287.76, while the Nasdaq Composite
rose 2.71% to end at 16,300.42. The major averages spiked on news that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told
a group of investors Tuesday that there “will be a de-escalation” in the trade war with China. “No one thinks
the current status quo is sustainable,” he said during a meeting with investors hosted by JPMorgan Chase,
according to a person in the room. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg News. - Oil rises 1% on Iran sanctions, drop in U.S. crude stocks
Oil prices rose almost 1% in early trade on Wednesday, extending the prior day’s gains as investors weighed a
fresh round of sanctions on Iran, a drop in U.S. crude stocks and a softer tone from Donald Trump on
the Federal Reserve. The market found support after Trump on Tuesday backed off from threats to fire Fed
Chair Jerome Powell, after days of intensifying criticisms of him for not cutting interest rates. Trump also
signaled the possibility of lower tariffs on China. Brent crude futures rose 61 cents, or 0.9%, to $68.05 a barrel
at 0007 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $64.27 a barrel, up 60 cents, or 0.94%. The U.S.
issued fresh sanctions targeting Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil shipping magnate, Seyed
Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his corporate network on Tuesday. Emamjomeh’s network is responsible for
shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG and crude oil to foreign markets, the Treasury
said in a statement. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories fell by around 4.6 million barrels last week, market
sources said on Tuesday citing American Petroleum Institute data. U.S. government data on oil stockpiles is
due at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT) on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters expect, on average, an 800,000
barrel decline in U.S. crude oil stocks for last week. Trump told reporters on Tuesday he would be very nice in
negotiations with Beijing and that tariffs on imports from the country would fall significantly following a deal,
but not to zero. And U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he believes there will be a de-escalation in
U.S.-China trade tensions, but negotiations with Beijing have not yet started and would be a “slog,” according
to a person who heard his closed-door presentation to investors at a JP Morgan conference. Trade tariffs have
weighed on crude futures as investors grow concerned about a global economic slowdown. - Gold falls as Trump backs down from threat to fire Fed chief
Gold prices fell on Wednesday as U.S. President Donald Trump retracted his threats to dismiss Federal Reserve
Chair Jerome Powell and expressed optimism for a trade deal with China, denting bullion’s safe-haven appeal.
Spot gold fell 0.7% to $3,357.11 an ounce by 0256 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 1.5% to $3,366.80. The hint of
U.S.-China negotiations and Trump backing down his threat to remove Powell “caused the sell off in gold price
to hit a kind of a very extreme oversold level in the short term perspective here,” said Kelvin Wong, senior
market analyst, Asia Pacific at OANDA. U.S. stocks and the dollar rebounded after Trump on
Tuesday withdrew his threats to fire Powell after days of intensifying criticism of the central bank chief for not
cutting interest rates. A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for overseas buyers. Trump
also expressed optimism that a trade deal with China could “substantially” reduce tariffs on Chinese goods,
hinting that the final deal will not “be anywhere near” current tariff rates. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
said he believes there will be a de-escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions, but negotiations with Beijing have
not yet started and would be a “slog”. “There is no form of a bullish exhaustion yet from the upper bond level
so there could still be potential movement on the upside for the gold,” ONADA’s Wong said. Fed Bank of
Minnesota President Neel Kashkari said it is too soon to know how short-term borrowing costs may need to be
adjusted for Trump’s tariffs and their expected impact on inflation and the economy. Gold, considered a hedge
against global uncertainty and inflation, hit its 28th record high this year on Tuesday, surging to $3,500 for the
first time. JP Morgan said it expects to see gold prices crossing the $4,000-per-ounce milestone next year.
Spot silver rose 0.5% to $32.67 an ounce, platinum eased 0.2% to $956.53 and palladium lost 0.2% to $933.72. - Singapore inflation stays at 4-year lows as city-state prepares for election
Singapore’s inflation in March stayed at over four-year lows, with the city-state’s consumer price index
climbing 0.9%, year on year. This was lower than Reuters poll expectations of 1.1%, and the same as the 0.9%
seen in February. Core inflation — which strips out prices of private transport and accommodation — slowed
to 0.5% from February’s reading of 0.6%. This was due to lower inflation across the broad core CPI categories,
barring food. The inflation reading comes as Singapore gears up for a general election on May 3, with
campaigning starting Wednesday as candidates filed their nomination papers. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong
said in a video Tuesday that cost-of-living pressures were “a real concern” for Singapore. “It’s because of wars
in Europe and the Middle East, because of global supply chain disruptions, and now because of tariffs and trade
wars,” Wong said. Singapore eased its monetary policy for the second straight time earlier in April, as the city
state sees zero growth this year as a possibility after posting a lower-than-expected GDP expansion of 3.8% for
the first quarter. The latest reading allows more room for the country to ease policy and boost growth.
Singapore’s year-on-year quarterly GDP growth missed expectations of 4.3% from economists polled by
Reuters, and was lower than the 5% expansion seen in the last quarter of 2024. The country’s Ministry of Trade
and Industry downgraded its GDP forecast to 0%-2% for 2025, down from its previous outlook of 1%-3% —
MAS also projected GDP growth of 0%-2% for 2025. In a release, MTI said the growth slowdown was due to
declines in manufacturing, as well as some services sectors such as finance and insurance. - IMF cuts 2025 growth forecast for major Asian economies, warns of global slowdown on trade worries
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday downgraded its growth forecasts for major Asian economies in
2025, citing trade tensions and “high policy uncertainty.” The IMF slashed its 2025 GDP projections for China
and India to 4% and 6.2% respectively, down from its January forecast of 4.6% and 6.5% respectively. China’s
official GDP growth target was set at “around 5%” for 2025, while India projected a 6.5% growth for its 2025
fiscal year running from April 2025 to March 2026. The IMF also cut Japan’s growth forecast to 0.6% from 1.1%.
Japan has a growth projection of 1.1% for its 2025 fiscal year, also running from April 2025 to March 2026. On
a global basis, growth was lowered to 2.8% from 3.3% for the whole of 2025, with the IMF saying that tariffs
announced by the U.S. and its trading partners were “a major negative shock to growth.” Furthermore, it added
that “the unpredictability with which these measures have been unfolding also has a negative impact on
economic activity and the outlook”, making it harder than normal for consistent and timely projections. The
IMF forecast comes amid a wider trend of research firms and banks cutting growth forecasts for Asian
economies. - India’s Modi and U.S. Vice President Vance optimistic on New Delhi-Washington trade deal
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday hailed the “significant”
progress made in trade talks between the two sides during Vance’s visit to India. Vance, who was in India on a
mostly personal trip with second lady Usha Vance and his family, met Modi in New Delhi. A statement from
Modi’s office said the two leaders “welcomed the significant progress in the negotiations for a mutually
beneficial India-U.S. Bilateral Trade Agreement.“
Vance and Modi also reviewed and positively assessed the progress in various areas of bilateral cooperation,
and noted “continued efforts” in enhancing cooperation in areas like energy, defense and strategic
technologies. The two leaders also exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest,
and called for dialogue and diplomacy. India was hit with a 26% “reciprocal” tariff on April 2, before the levies
were suspended for 90 days by U.S. President Donald Trump on April 9, leaving a 10% baseline tariff. On
Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the USTR and India’s Ministry of Commerce and
Industry have “finalized the terms of reference to lay down a roadmap for the negotiations on reciprocal trade.” - Bitcoin retakes $90,000 as investors see it as alternative to diving dollar and turbulent stocks
Bitcoin reclaimed the $90,000 level for the first time since March as investors jumped into the crypto for a
second day amid turbulence in the stock market. The price of bitcoin was last higher by more than 3% at
$90,282.00, according to Coin Metrics, its highest level since March 7. On Monday, it rose another 3%. Bitcoin
is off its April low now by about 21%. The big up move this week coincided with yet another sell-off in U.S.
equities Monday as Trump ratcheted up his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell,
demanding he lower rates immediately as the Trump administration explores whether Powell can legally be
fired before his term ends in May 2026. U.S. ETFs that track the price of spot bitcoin logged $381.4 million in
inflows on Monday. That was their biggest daily inflow since Jan. 30, when they posted $588.2 million, and
their fourth day of inflows in the past five trading sessions. The cryptocurrency was highly vulnerable to stocks’
tariff-fueled volatility earlier this month but has been decoupling from risk assets in the past week or so. It’s
now up more than 9% in April, along with gold’s 9% gain in that time. The S&P 500 has lost 6% month to date.
The U.S. dollar index is down 5%. - Intel to announce plans to cut over 20% of staff this week
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) plans to announce job cuts covering more than 20% of its staff this week as
it grapples with a growing cash crunch and weak market conditions, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The move
is aimed at reducing bureaucracy in the company, and is also intended to help streamline management and
build a more engineering-focused culture, the Bloomberg report said, citing a person with knowledge of the
matter. Intel employed about 109,000 people at the end of 2024. The upcoming cuts will be Intel’s first major
restructuring under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who was appointed as Pat Gelsinger’s replacement last month. Tan
outlined plans to turn around the struggling chipmaker, after a restructuring under Gelsinger, over the last
three years, failed to change Intel’s prospects. The company is struggling with three straight quarters of falling
revenue and shrinking profitability, and is expected to clock a fourth straight quarter of this trend on
Thursday. But Intel’s March quarter earnings are also expected to provide more insight into Tan’s turnaround
plans. Once a global leader in chipmaking, Intel largely fell behind rivals such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) in
recent years, especially as the company failed to capitalize on the popularity of graphical processing units in
the past decade. The company’s foundry division also fell behind rivals such as TSMC, which developed far
more advanced chipmaking and packaging technologies. - Tesla to revisit guidance as Q1 misses; shares gain as Musk to cut time at DOGE
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) said it was revisiting its full-year guidance after reporting first-quarter results that missed
estimates as deliveries fell well short of expectations amid rising competition and brand damage due to CEO
Elon Musk’s political activities. As of 6:00 PM ET, shares of Tesla rose 4% in after-hours trading amid comments
from Musk on the earnings call, including the winding down of his DOGE time commitment. Tesla
announced adjusted earnings per share of $0.27 on revenue of $19.34 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com
anticipated EPS of $0.42 on revenue of $21.4 billion. The miss on the top and bottom lines comes as automotive
sales plunged 20% in Q1 from the same period a year. Automotive margins, a measure of profitability, fell to
12.5% in the first quarter from 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Looking ahead, the company said it would revisit
its 2025 guidance in its Q2 update, citing the impacts of shifting global trade policy on the automotive and
energy supply chains, its cost structure and demand. On the call, Elon Musk addressed his time with DOGE and
indicated his time with the government agency will “drop significantly” in May. After that, Musk said he may
spend a day or two per week on government matters. Musk said far more of his time will be focused on Tesla
from May. The billionaire also reiterated his view that Tesla will be the most valuable company in the world
“by far” and may be worth more than the next five companies combined. He said this will require solid
execution. - First Solar shares rise after U.S. slaps tariffs on Southeast Asian solar imports
Shares in First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) rose in premarket trading on Wall Street on Tuesday, after U.S. trade
officials slapped steep new tariffs on most solar cells delivered from Southeast Asia. The move to finalize the
duties concludes a year-old trade case brought by Arizona-based First Solar, Korea’s Hanwha Qcells
(KS:000880), and several other smaller producers which accused Chinese firms of dumping unfairly cheap items
in the U.S. Chinese solar panel manufacturers with factories in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia were
allegedly selling their products in the U.S. at artificially low prices and receiving subsidies, the American Alliance
for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee — the petitioner group — said. Solar cells imported from those
countries could now face higher duties than preliminary tariffs announced last year, effectively making the
goods unsellable in the U.S. Products from Cambodia, in particular, would now incur levies of more than 3,500%
because its manufacturers chose not to collaborate with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Other items from Malaysia made by Jinko Solar have combined dumping and countervailing tariffs of 41.56%,
among the lowest announced, while those on rival Trina Solar’s operations in Thailand amount to 375.19%.
The International Trade Commission is due to vote in June on whether the industry has been materially harmed
by the dumping and subsidizing of these products. The four countries accounted for more than $10 billion in
solar supplies to the U.S. last year, amounting to a majority of the domestic supply. But, with the threat of
tariffs looming, imports from these nations has fallen sharply, and shipments from countries like Laos and
Indonesia are growing. - Halliburton (HAL) Q1 Earnings Match Estimates
Halliburton (HAL) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.60 per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus
Estimate. This compares to earnings of $0.76 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring
items. A quarter ago, it was expected that this provider of drilling services to oil and gas operators would post
earnings of $0.70 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.70, delivering no surprise. Over the last
four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus EPS estimates. Halliburton , which belongs
to the Zacks Oil and Gas – Field Services industry, posted revenues of $5.42 billion for the quarter ended March
2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.04%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $5.8 billion.
The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters. The sustainability
of the stock’s immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings
expectations will mostly depend on management’s commentary on the earnings call. Halliburton shares have
lost about 19.4% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500’s decline of -12.3%. - MMM’s Q1 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Revenues Decrease Y/Y
3M Company MMM reported first-quarter 2025 results, wherein revenues missed and earnings surpassed the
Zacks Consensus Estimate. It’s worth noting that in April 2024, the company completed the spin-off of its
Healthcare business into a separate public company. 3M delivered adjusted earnings of $1.88 per share, which
surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.77. The company reported earnings of $1.71 per share in the
year-ago quarter. The company reported net revenues of $5.95 billion in the quarter. The metric decreased 1%
year over year. Organic sales decreased 0.3%. Foreign currency translation had a negative impact of 1.7% while
acquisitions/divestitures boosted the top line by 1%. MMM’s adjusted revenues of $5.78 billion missed the
consensus estimate of $5.79 billion. On an adjusted basis, revenues increased 0.8% year over year.
Region-wise, organic sales in the Americas inched up 1.7% year over year while Asia Pacific organic sales
decreased 0.7%. Organic sales from businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa decreased 5.1%. Revenues
from Safety and Industrial totaled $2.70 billion, up 0.5% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the
segment’s revenues was pegged at $2.74 billion. Organic revenues increased 2.5% and foreign currency
translation had a negative impact 2%. Revenues from Transportation & Electronics totaled $1.99 billion, reflecting a year-over-year decrease of 5.4%.
The downside is attributable to a 4% decline in organic sales. The consensus estimate for the segment’s
revenues was pegged at $1.83 billion. Foreign currency translation had a 1.4% negative impact on revenues.
Revenues from the Consumer segment decreased 1.4% year over year to $1.12 billion. The consensus estimate
for the segment’s revenues was pegged at $1.15 billion. Organic sales increased 0.3%. Movements in foreign
currencies had an adverse impact of 1.7%. - Enphase Energy misses quarterly profit estimates, forecasts weak Q2 revenue
Solar inverter maker Enphase Energy on Tuesday missed analysts’ estimates for first-quarter profit, hit by
softening U.S. demand, and forecast second-quarter revenue below market estimates. Shares dropped 12.5%
in after market trading. The company’s battery shipments rose in the reported quarter from a year earlier, but
fell short of analysts’ expectations as softening demand and a metering reform introduced in 2023 in top U.S.
market California dented demand for Enphase’s inverters used in residential solar units. Fremont, California
based Enphase’s quarterly revenue rose 35% to $356.1 million in the quarter ended March 31 from a year
earlier, but fell short of estimates of $360.9 million. The company expects second-quarter revenue to be
between $340 million and $380 million, the midpoint of which is below analysts’ expectations of $376 million.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. trade officials finalized steep tariff levels on most solar cells from Southeast Asia, a key
step toward wrapping up a year-old trade case in which American manufacturers accused Chinese companies
of flooding the market with unfairly cheap goods. Enphase reported an adjusted profit of 68 cents per share
for the January to March quarter, compared with analysts’ estimate of 70 cents per share, according to data
compiled by LSEG.
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