Updated 2 min read
US stocks turned negative on Tuesday as investors assessed Fed chair appointee Kevin Warsh’s confirmation hearing and weighed Tim Cook’s exit as Apple (AAPL) CEO.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.1%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) declined 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.1% on the heels of mild closing losses for Wall Street stocks.
Federal Reserve chair nominee Kevin Warsh said during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that the push-and-pull between President Trump and the central bank may be coming to an end.
Warsh pushed back on the idea that he would do whatever Trump asks him to do. When asked wether he would be the President’s “sock puppet,” Warsh responded “absolutely not.”
In the Middle East, President Trump said US negotiators are ready to leave for Pakistan to resume talks. The president also signaled that the US doesn’t plan to extend its temporary ceasefire with Iran, which is set to expire late Wednesday. In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, the president said he’s looking for a deal but that “I expect to be bombing because I think that’s a better attitude to go in with.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street is digesting the changing of the guard at Apple, which will see longtime CEO Tim Cook step down and hand over the CEO role to hardware engineering head John Ternus.
On the economic data, US retail sales rose by the most in a year, notching a 1.7% monthly rise, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. The hotter-than-expected read is a bullish signal that Americans are continuing to spend even as gasoline prices have cut into budgets.
Also in focus are results from United Airlines (UAL) after the bell, which will be watched for the impact of war-stoked rising fuel costs.
LIVE 13 updates
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Stocks fall, Treasury yields rise as markets assess Warsh’s testimony
Partway through Kevin Warsh’s Senate confirmation hearing, markets are picking up on an implicit hawkish tilt in some of Warsh’s remarks.
Stocks, which started the day in the green, slipped into negative territory by less than 1%. While Warsh hasn’t made any direct statements on how he would adjust monetary policy, he did note that he intends to implement “a different, new inflation framework” if confirmed as Fed chair.
Treasury yields also rose as Warsh faced questioning by Senate lawmakers. The 10-year yield (^TNX) climbed 4 basis points to 4.29%. The five-year yield (^FVX) jumped 6 basis points to 3.91%.
Follow along live updates from Warsh’s confirmation hearing here.
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Kevin Warsh says he will ‘absolutely not’ be Trump’s ‘sock puppet’
Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh on Tuesday pushed back on the idea that he will do whatever President Trump asks him to do.
Asked by Sen. John Kennedy whether he would be Trump’s “human sock puppet,” Warsh responded, “absolutely not.”
Kennedy also asked Warsh whether he had agreed with Trump to lower interest rates in exchange for being appointed to the top job at the Federal Reserve.
“The president never asked me to pre-determine, commit, fix, or decide on any interest rate decision, in any of our discussions — nor would I agree to do so,” Warsh said during his confirmation hearing at Capitol Hill.
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Apple stock breaks out as Cook hands over the keys
Apple (AAPL) is at a crossroads — technically and fundamentally.
The stock has three big things happening at once: a CEO change, earnings next week, and a fresh breakout that now needs to hold.
Apple announced Monday that Tim Cook will step down on Sept. 1, with hardware chief John Ternus taking over. Earnings land next Thursday, April 30 — Cook’s final report as sitting CEO.
And on the chart, Apple recently pushed above the yellow, downward-sloping trend line from its December all-time high. Today, it’s trading slightly in the red, the first sign that the breakout is being tested.
Unlike Meta and Tesla — other “Magnificent Seven” names running into flat 200-day moving averages — Apple’s 200-day moving average (see the red line above) is clearly rising, a stronger backdrop for any breakout.
A level to watch: Above the trend line, $278–$280 is the next minor barrier, then it’s the $286–$289 all-time high zone. Below, $245–$250 is the first support level, just under the 200-day moving average.
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Semiconductor stocks keep minting record highs as tech momentum builds
Tech is still driving the bus — but industrials are a growing force in this market, and transports are on a tear.
The large-cap tech ETF XLK is set to extend its win streak to a record-breaking 15 straight sessions. But it’s not just megacap gravity. The small-cap tech ETF, PSCT, just notched its seventh straight intraday record high.
Meanwhile, semis keep soaring. SOXX is stretching its win streak to a record-tying 15 (last seen in June 2014) and has now logged 10 straight intraday all-time highs.
And the Dow Transports (^DJT) have scored eight record intraday highs in the last 10 sessions.
Here are this morning’s intraday record highs:
Indexes: Dow Jones Transportation Average (^DJT), Russell 2000 (^RUT), S&P MidCap 400 (^MID), S&P SmallCap 600 (^SP600), S&P 500 Equal-Weight Index (^SPXEW)
Dow Jones Sectors/Industries: Electronic Equipment, Telecom Equipment, Electrical Components & Equipment, Electronic & Electrical, Commercial Vehicles & Trucks, Heavy Construction, Industrial Metals, Marine Transportation, Retailer Broadline, Semiconductors, Trucking, Tech Hardware & Equip
Large-cap sector ETFs: Technology (XLK)
Small-cap sector ETFs: Small-cap tech (PSCT)
Industry/Style/Country ETFs: Semiconductors (SOXX), S&P 500 High Beta (SPHB), Value (VLUE), Micro-Cap (IWC), Canada (EWC), Taiwan (EWT)
Consumer discretionary stocks: Avis Budget (CAR), Hilton (HLT), Marriott (MAR), Ralph Lauren (RL)
Financial stocks: AEHR (AEHR), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), Northern Trust (NTRS), State Street (STT)
Industrial stocks: Caterpillar (CAT), Comfort Systems (FIX), Cummins (CMI), CSX (CSX), Eaton (ETN), Emcor (EME), FedEx (FDX), GE Vernova (GEV), Hubbell (HUBB), Hunt (JBHT) (JBHT), Jabil (JBL), Kirby (KEX), Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC), MKS Instruments (MKSI), Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR), Nucor (NUE), ONTO Innovation (ONTO), Photronics (PLAB), Powell Industries (POWL), Quanta Services (PWR), Ryder (R), Steel Dynamics (STLD), TE Connectivity (TEL), Trane (TT), Ultra Clean (UCTT)
Real estate stocks: Digital Realty (DLR)
Tech stocks: Amkor (AMKR), Arista Networks (ANET), ASE Technology (ASX), FormFactor (FORM), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Keysight (KEYS), KLA (KLAC), Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC), MACOM (MTSI), Marvell (MRVL), Nova (NVMI), SiTime (SITM), Teradyne (TER), Texas Instruments (TXN)
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Trump says he would ‘love’ to see an acquisition of Spirit Airlines, derides talks of United-American merger
President Trump would “love” to see an acquisition of Spirit Airlines, the US leader said in comments to CNBC Tuesday morning.
“I love mergers, I’d love somebody to buy Spirit,” Trump said.
Shares in Spirit Aviation Holdings (FLYYQ), the parent company of the budget airline, soared on Tuesday after the president’s comments, gaining more
Spirit Airlines has, over the past few years, been subject to a litany of potential M&A deals that have all fallen apart. In 2022, fellow budget airline Frontier proposed a merger, which was snarled by a competing all-cash offer from JetBlue.
The president said in his comments that Spirit represents 14,000 US jobs, and that the federal government may consider “help[ing] out” with a potential buyer’s acquisition of the budget airline.
Trump’s comments come after The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the distressed airline is in talks about potential federal government investment to help it offset the surging costs in jet fuel prices due to the war in Iran.
Spirit shareholders moved to accept JetBlue’s bid, but the deal was ultimately blocked by the Department of Justice in January 2024. The budget airline declared bankruptcy in late 2024 and midway through 2025.
President Trump also said Tuesday that he would not want to see a tie-up of United Airlines (UAL) and American Airlines (AAL), a deal reportedly proposed by United yet denied by American.
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US stocks rise at the opening bell
The US stock market rose on Tuesday as investors watched potential US-Iran peace talks and digested news that Tim Cook is stepping down as Apple’s (AAPL) CEO.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) picked up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose less than 0.1% above the flat line.
President Trump said US negotiators will head to Pakistan for second-round talks, and Tehran signaled Tuesday morning that it will send a team as well. Trump said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday morning that he “expect[s] to be bombing” because “I think that’s a better attitude to go in with.”
Futures on international Brent crude (BZ=F) rose while US West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) fell.
In the corporate world, Apple shares fell 0.9% in the first minutes of Tuesday trading. United Airlines (UAL) will report after the bell on Tuesday.
Senate confirmation hearings for President Trump’s Federal Reserve chair appointee Kevin Warsh will also begin at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
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Retail sales jump in March by more than expected amid spike in gas prices
US retail sales rose by more than expected in March as high gas prices stemming from the war in Iran didn’t detract from spending, and larger tax refunds boosted purchases.
Retail sales jumped 1.7% last month from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in February, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. Wall Street economists were expecting a 1.3% rise in retail sales.
Reuters reports:
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Avis stock’s apparent short squeeze not yet letting up
Avis Budget Group (CAR) appears to be facing a short squeeze.
Shares of the car rental agency were up another 6% on Tuesday following a 23% surge on Monday. Over the past month, the stock is up 500%.
The short interest in Avis as a percentage of shares outstanding currently stands at 25%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That figure represents the portion of shares that are currently sold short and not yet covered: a ratio above 10% is considered high, while one above 20% is considered extreme, with a high risk of a short squeeze.
According to Deutsche Bank research analyst Chris Woronka, the squeeze was triggered at the beginning of the month by filings that showed two investors, SRS and Pentwater, controlled 71% of shares. When synthetic ownership is factored in, the two investors effectively controlled 108% of Avis shares.
“Recall that CAR’s stock itself is actually no stranger to sharp rallies,” Woronka wrote on April 6. “On November 2, 2021 its shares more than doubled, from $163 to $357 (the intra-day high was $545) on the heels of a strong earnings report and, more importantly (in our view), a disclosure that the company had repurchased 16% of its shares during the fiscal 3Q of 2021.”
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Why Goldman Sachs thinks stocks will rip even higher
Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi writes:
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Wall Street fears ‘too much optimism’ about Iran war as stocks hit record highs
Stocks are trading at record highs. But this new high-water mark for the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) has not been met with resounding enthusiasm or relief.
Yahoo Finance’s Myles Udland writes:
Read more here in today’s takeaway from the Morning Brief.
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Amazon to invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic as part of $100 billion cloud deal
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Oil falls as negotiations between the US and Iran develop
Bloomberg reports:
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Tim Cook’s tenure saw Apple stock rise to $4 trillion
Yahoo Finance’s Dan Howley reports:
