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US stock futures stepped higher on Wednesday after the US struck a trade deal with Japan and Wall Street readied for Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) earnings.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) rose roughly 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures (ES=F) moved up 0.2% on the heels of the benchmark ekeing out another record closing high. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) edged up 0.1%.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday evening, “We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made.” The president said that the agreement includes a 15% tariff on imported goods from Japan.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
Google-parent Alphabet and Tesla are set to kick off highly anticipated second-quarter results from the “Magnificent Seven” after the bell Wednesday.
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.
Other earnings results set to land on Wednesday include Chipotle (CMG), which is expected to report its second straight quarter of declining sales, as well as AT&T (T), IBM (IBM), and Alaska Air (ALK).
LIVE 4 updates
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Memes on the move again
The return of meme stock mania doesn’t appear like it will end on Wednesday.
Some of the most trended ticker pages on Yahoo Finance this morning include meme crowd favorites Kohl’s (KSS), Rocket (RKT) and Krispy Kreme (DNUT). Rocket and Krispy Kreme as of this writing are each up double-digit percentages pre-market.
“The phenomenon of meme stocks isn’t going away. I feel like the genie’s out of the bottle. And it’s just become a way for a certain subset of everyday investors to trade, and that’s completely fine,” Ritholtz Wealth Management strategist Callie Cox told me on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid (watch below).
Makes sense!
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Texas Instruments stock plunges as guidance disappoints
Given how hard the stock market has rallied, any company reporting guidance that is perceived as subpar will get punished.
A good example of that will play out with Texas Instruments (TXN) in today’s session.
The stock is getting pounded premarket, down 12% after third quarter guidance on earnings per share that was 14 cents below consensus on the low end. TXN blamed weak demand in the auto market (heard the same in GM’s (GM) outlook on Tuesday).
Executives at the key chipmaker for producers of cars and factory equipment said they didn’t know how much of the second quarter’s jump in revenue was down to customers trying to get ahead of tariffs, per Reuters.
Whatever the case, TXN’s outlook is putting pressure on similar names in the space: Microchip (MCHP), Analog Devices (ADI), NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), and On Semi (ON).
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Japanese auto stocks surge as US announces lower-than-expected tariffs
Shares of Japanese automakers pumped after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan, lowering the previously discussed 25% auto tariffs on Japanese vehicles to 15%.
Honda (HMC) surged 9.8%, Toyota (TM) jumped 13.9%, Nissan (7222.T) gained over 5%, and Mazda (7261.T) soared 17.7%. Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T) rose over 12%.
According to Japan’s NHK, the revised tariff structure includes a 12.5% cut plus a 2.5% “Most Favored Nation” base rate. The move comes as Japanese auto exports to the US have suffered, plunging 26.7% in June.
Trump hailed the deal as the “largest Deal ever,” claiming Japan would invest $550 billion in the US and allow greater access to its markets, including for American autos, trucks, and agricultural goods.
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Trending tickers in after-hours trading
Texas Instruments, Inc. (TXN)
Texas Instruments, a leading chipmaker with the broadest product list in the field, saw its share value drop over 11.6% in after-hours trading. The stock has seen 46% gains in the year to date following a boom in purchases with each wave of tariff announcements. The rapid cooling-off occurred when the executive team announced they were unaware how much of the increase in revenue had been dependent on consumers attempting to circumvent the hike in prices from Trump’s tariffs.
Enphase Energy, Inc. (ENPH)
Solar equipment provider Enphase Energy saw a drop of over 7.2% in the company’s stock value in extended trading. With 5% of the market share in the solar equipment field Enphase acts as an early indicator for the impact that Trump’s removal of tax credits will have upon the industry. Enphase are pointing towards a 20% drop in the residential market.
Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI)
Shares in semiconductor maker Analog Devices saw a drop of over 4.1% after-hours, erasing gains from the month so far. The company specializes in chips that convert real world input into electrical signals, processing sound, light, temperature, pressure and motion. Investors have been eyeing ADI’s earnings reports, still not due for another month.
