April 29 (Reuters) – Wall Street’s main indexes moved higher in volatile trading on Tuesday as a mixed bag of corporate earnings, soft economic data and fresh developments on the U.S.-China trade front kept investors on the sidelines.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted China could lose 10 million jobs quickly due to tariffs, but signaled progress on trade deals with other countries including Japan and India.
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The world’s two largest economies have slapped tit-for-tat import tariffs on each other and uncertainty around the state of negotiations between the two has kept markets on edge.
There is still some optimism around “what will likely be deals with India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea”, but talks with China will likely be “the last pin to fall”, said Patriarch Organization CEO Eric Schiffer.
A day after U.S. officials said the Trump administration will move to reduce the impact of automotive tariffs, shares of Ford (F.N)
, opens new tab were only marginally higher and Tesla (TSLA.O)
, opens new tab fell 0.6%.
The blue-chip Dow (.DJI)
, opens new tab got a boost as Honeywell jumped 5.4% on reporting a rise in adjusted profit for the first quarter. Paintmaker Sherwin-Williams (SHW.N)
, opens new tab gained 5% after its quarterly profit beat estimates.
However, General Motors (GM.N)
, opens new tab fell 1.6% after the automaker pulled its annual forecast due to tariff uncertainty.
The day’s data releases also pointed to an increasingly murky economic outlook. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index dropped to its lowest reading since May 2020, while job openings came in at 7.19 million in March, below estimates of 7.48 million.
“We’re just in this eye of the storm … for a lot of investors, consumers, and business leaders wondering what the future looks like as potential tariffs kick in down the road,” said Matthew Stucky, chief portfolio manager at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management.
This is a line chart that shows a consumer confidence index over the past 20 years. In the month of April, the overall index was 86.0, the view of the current economy was 133.5 and expectations for the future were 54.4.
At 11:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI)
, opens new tab rose 243.76 points, or 0.61%, to 40,471.35, the S&P 500 (.SPX)
, opens new tab gained 13.75 points, or 0.25%, to 5,542.50 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC)
, opens new tab gained 26.30 points, or 0.15%, to 17,392.44.
More economic data, including nonfarm payrolls, is expected this week, and results from many of the “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap stocks are also due, with investors hawk-eyed on any signs of tariff impact on their outlook.
A line chart titled “The Magnificent Seven versus the market” that compares the performance of the seven largest stocks versus the rest of the S&P 500.
All three major indexes remain down for the year, despite the S&P 500 logging its best winning streak since November on Monday.
HSBC became the latest brokerage to trim its year-end target for the S&P 500 index, cutting it to 5,600 from 6,700 earlier.
Coca-Cola (KO.N)
, opens new tab rose 0.6% after beating revenue and profit estimates, while United Parcel Service (UPS.N)
, opens new tab edged 0.2% lower after its quarterly results.
Wells Fargo (WFC.N)
, opens new tab gained 1.3% after announcing a stock buyback program of up to $40 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.11-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 47 new lows.
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath
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