Updated 2 min read
In This Article:
US stocks climbed on Wednesday after the US struck a trade deal with Japan, lifting hopes for further tariff pacts as Wall Street got ready for Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose more than 1.1%, or roughly 450 points, and was just four points shy of its first record close of 2025. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved up almost 0.8%, and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) nudged up around 0.6%, with both once closing at at record levels.
The US pact with Japan places a 15% tariff on imports from the country, President Trump said — a step down from the threatened 25% duties set to hit next week. For its part, Tokyo will make $550 billion in US investment. “It’s a great deal for everybody,” Trump said late Tuesday.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
The major-partner breakthrough lifted optimism that more trade deals will be sealed before Aug. 1, when Trump’s sweeping tariffs kick in. While negotiations with the European Union, India, and other large partners have dragged of late, reports on Wednesday suggested a deal with the EU was taking shape, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touted progress with China.
Economists believe that if tariffs then average out at 15%, that would be manageable for the global economy, limiting damage.
But the stock market rally faces a big test in Google-parent Alphabet and Tesla’s earnings due after the bell, the first of the “Magnificent Seven” to report.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s rocky relationship with Trump is looming large over the EV maker’s earnings. With its stock down nearly 18% year-to-date, investors are watching for updates on the company’s core auto business and its robotaxi rollout.
With Alphabet, investors are looking for signs that AI investments are starting to pay off as the company pours billions into the technology. A federal judge’s decision that could force the company to sell Google Chrome will also be in focus.
Read more: Full earnings coverage in our live blog
LIVE 25 updates
-
Tesla misses on Q2 earnings, but says ‘more affordable’ model planned for 2025 production
Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:
Tesla (TSLA) reported a slight earnings and revenue miss in the second quarter, but said its “more affordable” model was still slated for 2025 production.
Tesla reported second quarter revenue of $22.50 billion vs. $22.64 billion (per Bloomberg consensus), a 9% drop compared with the $25.05 billion reported a year ago. Tesla posted adjusted EPS of $0.40 vs $0.42, with operating income coming in at $923 million vs $1.23 billion expected.
Tesla stock was slightly higher in after-hours trading.
“We continue to expand our vehicle offering, including first builds of a more affordable model in June, with volume production planned for the second half of 2025,” the company said in a statement.
-
Chipotle stock slides as same-store-sales fall more than expected
Chipotle (CMG) stock slid more than 7% in after hours trading as the fast casual restaurant chain saw same-store-sales fell 4% in the second quarter. Wall Street had expected just shy of a 3% decline.
The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.33 on revenue of $3.1 billion, roughly in line with the streets estimates.
-
Google beats estimates on Q2 earnings results, but increased cap-ex spending sends shares lower
Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:
Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reported its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday, beating expectations on the top and bottom lines on the strength of its advertising and cloud businesses. But the company said capital expenditures will climb to $85 billion. Google previously projected $75 billion.
Shares of Alphabet fell more than 1%.
For the quarter, Google saw adjusted earnings per share of $2.31 on revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC) of $81.2 billion. Analysts were anticipating Adj. EPS of $2.17 on revenue ex-TAC of $79.6 billion. The company posted revenue of $71.3 billion during the same period last year.
Advertising revenue came in at $71.3 billion versus expectations of $69.6 billion. Search revenue topped out at $54.1 billion versus an anticipated $52.7 billion. YouTube ad revenue was $9.8 billion versus expctations of $9.5 billion.
Google Cloud Platform revenue hit $13.6 billion. Analysts were looking for $13.1 billion.
-
What to watch in Alphabet earnings after the bell
Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:
Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) will report its second quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday as the company continues to ride the artificial intelligence wave.
Alphabet is one of the largest and most advanced companies in the space, thanks to its vast network of data centers and Gemini AI models. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, the company’s AI Overview is already drawing 1.5 billion users, and its AI services are seeing 2x longer queries than its traditional search product.
According to BofA Global Research analyst Justin Post, potential positives for the quarter include increasing advertising spending, AI helping to power revenue, and strong cloud performance.
“We remain constructive on Google’s ability to drive AI usage despite cautious sentiment, and see Gemini improvements, AI Mode integration in search and Workspace price increases as key YTD positives,” Post wrote in a note to investors.
For the quarter, Google is expected to post adjusted earnings per share of $2.17 on revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC) of $79.6 billion, an 11.6% jump versus the same period last year, when the company posted revenue of $71.3 billion, according to analyst consensus data from Bloomberg.
-
Home sales declined in June as prices hit new all-time high
Sales of existing homes dropped more than expected in June, the latest sign that record-high prices and elevated mortgage rates are extending the housing market’s deep freeze, Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports.
Boston writes:
-
The meme stock rally continues the Trump trade rebound that has stocks trading at record highs
Meme stocks are running wild again.
Some of the latest highfliers — Krispy Kreme (DNUT), Opendoor (OPEN), and Kohl’s (KSS) — all have one key thing in common: They are heavily shorted stocks.
This means investors have been betting the next price move for these names will be lower, and some strategists suggest that this week’s meme surge is merely the latest pillar of a consistent theme during the S&P 500’s 25% rally over the last three months.
“A lot of what has outperformed significantly [since the market bottom], obviously the memes, but the heavily shorted stocks of every variety,” Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday.
“So I think there may be that also added attempt on the part of the retail trader to press those shorts and force a repositioning on the part of speculators and institutions.”
Short sellers have lost just shy of $355 billion since the market bottom on April 8, according to data from S3 Partners. That includes more than $100 billion in losses since Yahoo Finance last published S3’s data on May 22.
-
AI trade takes center stage as Big Tech earnings season kicks off
Tech earnings season kicks off in earnest on Wednesday when Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) reports its results after the bell — and AI will once again dominate the conversation — Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports.
Howley writes:
-
Toyota, Honda, Nissan stocks soar on trade pact as Big 3 say it’s a ‘bad deal’
Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), and Nissan (NSANY) stocks surged on Wednesday morning on confirmation that the Trump administration and Japanese government struck a trade deal, Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports.
Subramanian writes:
-
Wendy’s spikes, ‘could be the next meme’
Wendy’s (WEN) stock climbed nearly 5% Wednesday after spiking 11% earlier in the morning.
Reddit users on r/wallstreetbets discussed squeezing the stock in a string of comments late Tuesday, with one user saying Wendy’s “could be the next meme.”
Meanwhile, GoPro (GPRO) and Krispy Kreme (DNUT) early Wednesday appeared set to be the latest stars of a meme stock resurgence.
Wendy’s hit its lowest closing price in nearly a decade on Monday, with shares ending the trading session at $10.30.
The fast food chain has reported earnings falling in three of the past four quarters. In its most recent quarterly results, Wendy’s reported sales below Wall Street’s expectations amid “a challenging consumer environment.”
-
MARA plummets after announcing proposed private offering
MARA Holdings (MARA) stock sank nearly 11% after the crypto miner announced a proposed $850 million debt offering.
The company said it would use the proceeds, in part, “to acquire additional bitcoin.”
Lately, companies and bitcoin treasuries have tested investor sentiment on using debt and equity to fund their bitcoin purchases. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) and GameStop (GME) fell earlier this year after announcing they were issuing debt — and also common stock, in Trump Media’s case — to fund bitcoin acquisitions.
Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co analyst Gustavo Gala said in a recent series of notes to clients that fixed income investors have shown limited interest in the Strategy’s (MSTR) convertible debt and preferred shares used to fund its bitcoin purchases, writing in early June that Strategy has “a limited runway” to continue its approach.
Despite Wednesday’s decline, MARA shares are up nearly 7% for 2025. Still, that’s less than fellow crypto miner Riot Platforms’ (RIOT) 37.5% gain and CleanSpark’s (CLSK) 36% climb.
-
Kohl’s falls after meme stock rally
Kohl’s (KSS) stock fell more than 12% Wednesday morning after a meme stock craze pushed shares up nearly 38% the day prior.
In an analysis on Tuesday, S3 Partners said Kohl’s is a “battleground stock” because it has equal amounts of active long and short positions.
“With both the long and short sides equally balanced there is inherently more volatility in the stock, there is a greater chance of seeing sudden and severe spikes in stock prices much like the sudden drop in a see-saw when one side jumps off suddenly,” Ihor Dusaniwsky, S3’s head of predictive analytics, wrote.
-
US stocks climb at the open
US stocks rose at the market open on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up roughly 0.6%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) added 0.3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) edged up around 0.2%.
The gain sets the S&P 500 on track for its third record close in a row. The broad benchmark eked out a slight gain to notch back-to-back all-time highs on Tuesday in a mixed day for stocks.
-
Gold wavers as Trump’s deal with Japan eases trade concerns
The price of gold (GC=F) retreated on Wednesday after a three-day rally as President Trump’s trade deal with Japan relieved some demand for the safe-haven asset. Gold prices pared some losses, however, once it became clear that the European Union is preparing over $100 billion in tariff countermeasures.
Gold futures fell 0.18% to $3,437 ahead of the opening bell. Silver futures (SI=F), meanwhile, rose 0.6% to $39.80 an ounce, the highest since 2011.
Bloomberg reports:
-
Trump readies new hands-off AI ‘action plan’
President Trump is expected to release an AI “action plan” on Wednesday, said to outline how the US can win in the global AI race by taking a hands-off regulatory approach.
The plan is likely to cover how to make it easier to export AI technology and to lower barriers to domestic development, going by a draft reported by Reuters.
A clutch of supporting executive orders expected this week could include one that could draw legal challenges, notes Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Keenan:
-
AT&T subscribers surge, but the stock is sliding premarket
AT&T (T) stock fell over 3% in premarket trading despite the telecom provider reporting a huge subscriber beat.
Reuters reports:
-
How the dropping dollar could scramble Trump’s agenda
President Trump has said he is “never going to let the dollar slide.” But his agenda is making that complicated, Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:
-
Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
Economic data: MBA mortgage applications (July 18); Existing home sales (June)
Earnings: Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Tesla (TSLA), Chipotle (CMG), Alaska Airlines (ALK), AT&T (T), Fiserv (FI), Freeport-McMoran (FCX), GE Vernova (GEV), General Dynamics (GD), Hasbro (HAS), IBM (IBM), O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY), QuantumScape (QS)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
AT&T stock slides despite subscriber surge; Tesla, Google on deck
Trump gets Japan deal, but EU digs in with $100B response
How the dollar’s drop could scramble Trump’s agenda
Trump to launch hands-off ‘action plan’ to win AI race
Google earnings on deck: AI results wanted, not just hype
The protein boom is only beginning
Krispy Kreme, GoPro jump as meme stock rally continues
AT&T beats profit estimates as bundled plans boost subscribers
-
The protein boom is only beginning
Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban reports in today’s Morning Brief:
-
Enphase stock slides on warning of hit from Trump policies
Shares in Enphase Energy (ENPH) fell after its third quarter revenue forecast fell short, as the US solar company pointed to headwinds from President Trump’s policies.
The solar equipment maker said Trump’s import tariffs had hit its gross margin, after the US in April finalized steep duties on solar cells from Southeast Asia.
At the same time, Enphase faces the fallout from Trump’s cuts to tax incentives in the renewable energy sector. It said it expects the US residential solar market to shrink 20% next year as tax credits for homeowners end under Trump’s sweeping budget legislation.
Bloomberg reports:
-
Trending tickers: Krispy Kreme, GoPro and Constellation Energy Corporation
Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading:
Krispy Kreme (DNUT) stock rose 22% before the bell after its name was boosted on social media a day after retail traders snapped up Kohl’s (KSS) shares.
Camera maker GoPro (GPRO) shares rose 43%, per Reuters short interest in the stock recently stood at 7.7%. Investor interest in heavily shorted stocks has grown after Kohl’s jumped 38% on Tuesday amid heavy retail buying.
Constellation Energy Corporation (CEG) stock rose 4% premarket after PJM Interconnection released results from its 2026-2027 capacity auction. The grid operator set record prices at $329.17 per megawatt-day, raising total capacity costs to $16.1 billion from $14.7 billion last year.
