Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq jump as Trump touts US-UK trade deal, China talks

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) stock rose as much as 6% Thursday before paring some gains, driven by ongoing speculation about a potential company breakup.

CNBC’s David Faber said on air that an announcement could come “in the not-too-distant future,” suggesting WBD may be preparing to fully separate its declining linear cable networks from its studio and streaming businesses.

Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.

There have been some hints at a future split. Last year, WBD said it would undergo a corporate restructuring to separate its legacy networks, including CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV, and the Food Network, from growth drivers like studios and its streaming platform Max.

That restructuring is expected to be completed in mid-2025.

“They’ve already done all of the reapportioning necessary,” Faber said, pointing out that, for the first time, the company broke out each business segment in its Q1 earnings report, released before the bell on Thursday. According to him, that’s usually a sign that a split may be on the horizon. Still, he added, “When will that come? How will it come? That, of course, remains the question.”

Speculation about a breakup has intensified over the past year as the media conglomerate struggles to reduce debt, streamline operations, and reignite growth in a rapidly evolving media landscape. Currently, WBD has about $38 billion in total debt after repaying $2.2 billion in debt during the first quarter.

Read more here.

Palantir (PLTR) stock surged 7.8% Thursday as shares began to recover from steep losses earlier this week following the company’s first quarter earnings report.

Palantir stock fell 12% on Tuesday as investors scrutinized the company’s valuation and declining sales in its international business, even as its first quarter revenue blew past Wall Street’s forecasts.

The decline shaved roughly $35 billion from the AI war tech firm’s market capitalization.

Palantir’s first quarter revenue in its international commercial segment, which sells software to businesses abroad, posted a 5% decline in the first quarter from the prior year due to “headwinds” in Europe. Since 2023, Palantir executives have noted difficulties in that market, as the region has been slower to make large-scale investments in AI and faces slowing GDP growth.

The stock began to recover on Wednesday, rising a more modest 1.5%.

Trump’s trade deal with the UK, announced Thursday, was also a positive sign for Palantir.

“If the US is able to achieve similar deals with other European countries there may be an opportunity for Palantir to improve its continental Europe business,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria told Yahoo Finance in an email.

Wedbush analyst Scott Devitt downgraded his rating on Uber (UBER) stock to Neutral from Outperform, saying Uber’s days of beating Wall Street’s expectations are “in the rear view mirror.”

The change comes after the ride-hail giant reported mixed first quarter results Wednesday but forecast a strong current quarter outlook, Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reported.

“In recent periods, the magnitude of beats versus estimates has contracted materially as performance has caught up to investor expectations,” Devitt wrote.

“We recognize that Uber’s management team has demonstrated a successful track record of execution across key initiatives to drive growth during this period,” he added. “However, the business is now well understood and the lack of clear catalysts in the near-term will limit upside to expectations in the current environment, in our view, curbing further multiple expansion.”

Meanwhile, analysts at Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan (JPM), Jefferies (JEF), Raymond James (RJF), and RBC Capital Markets raised their price targets on the stock following this week’s results, citing Uber’s expansion into the growing autonomous vehicle market (for example, its deal with Waymo).

Uber stock fell about 0.5% on Thursday.

Stocks surged on Thursday after President Trump hinted at more trade deals and a deregulation and tax cut bill the administration aims to pass through Congress.

“We have a lot of support for that bill, and if that happens on top of all of these trade deals that we’re doing — this country will hit a point that — you better go out and buy stock now,” said Trump at the Oval Office on Thursday after he unveiled a US trade deal with the UK.

“This country will be like a rocket ship that goes straight up.”

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) hit session highs to surge more than 1.8%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) increased around 1.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained more than 1.4%, or about 500 points.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is slated to travel to Switzerland to speak with Chinese officials this weekend.

Trump hinted that if negotiations go well, tariffs on imports from China would be lowered.

Stocks jumped to session highs on Thursday after President Trump hinted tariffs on imports from China will likely come down if trade talks between Washington and Beijing go well.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is slated to travel to Switzerland this week to speak with Chinese officials about trade.

Trump hinted he would consider lowering the current tariffs on imports from China.

“We’re going to see. Right now you can’t get any higher. It’s at 145%. So we know it’s coming down,” Trump said.

Bitcoin touched $100,000 for the first time since February after President Trump unveiled a trade deal with the UK on Thursday.

The cryptocurrency rose more than 3% to hover at around $100,500 during Trump’s press conference at the Oval Office as he described the agreement reached with the UK.

Bitcoin is up over 30% over the past month.

President Trump announced US has reached a trade deal with the UK.

“The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers,” said Trump.

“It’s a very large deal, a very big deal,” he added.

Steel, aluminum, aero, and commercial planes will be a part of the deal.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said the UK would be buying $10 billion worth of Boeing (BA) planes, with a formal announcement coming later on Thursday.

Shares of Boeing surged 2% on the announcement.

Lutnick also indicated a 10% tariff on imports from the UK would stay in place, which is expected to produce $6 billion of revenue for the United States.

Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) stock rose about 1.4% early Thursday as several Wall Street banks defended the company following shares’ 7% drop Wednesday, which was spurred by a report that Apple (AAPL) may be looking to add AI search options to its web browser Safari.

Analysts at Jefferies, TD Cowen, Citi, and JPMorgan were among those on Wall Street maintaining a Buy or Overweight rating on the stock. Jefferies analyst Brent Thill and JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur both called the reaction to Cue’s commentary “overdone.”

Alphabet-owned Google is currently the default search option for Apple’s browser, for which it pays the iPhone maker $20 billion annually.

During testimony in the US Justice Department’s lawsuit against Alphabet, Apple’s senior vice president of services Eddy Cue said that Google searches on Safari declined for the first time last month, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Cue indicated the decline in Safari searches occurred as customers turn to AI search providers and said Apple is “actively looking at” adding AI search engines such as Perplexity to its default Safari web browser.

Read more about Wall Street’s reaction to Alphabet stock sell-off here.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) traded above $99,300 on Thursday morning, just a stone’s throw from the $100,000 threshold.

Bitcoin’s 2% jump comes as President Trump is expected to detail a trade deal with the UK this morning.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency has rallied 30% over the past month, outperforming the overall market as investor optimism over trade deals grows.

Year to date, bitcoin is up more than 6%.

Stocks rose on Thursday as optimism rose over trade deals between the Trump administration and its trading partners after President Trump announced a “major” deal with the UK. Trump is expected to unveil the agreement later this morning.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) jumped about 0.1% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) increased 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.5%.

The major averages extended gains from the prior session as the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates steady. Chair Jerome Powell suggested the central bank will take a “wait and see” approach to policy,

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) gained to hover just above $99,000 on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Coinbase (COIN) has agreed to buy crypto options platform Deribit for roughly $2.9 billion as part of a push to enter the highly profitable crypto derivatives market.

The price includes $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A common stock, according to the Journal.

Coinbase shares jumped over 5% in premarket trading.

The purchase comes amid buoyed hopes that the IPO and M&A dealmaking market may be resuming after several deals were temporarily halted due to trade uncertainty in April.

However, Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports that an M&A revival still has a ways to go, as the number of deals by US companies so far this year was tracking the lowest pace since 2009. Many pushed back deals until later this year, while others “playing it by ear.”

Read more here.

Peloton (PTON) continues to try to dig itself out of a post-pandemic slump, but a more cautious consumer didn’t help its turnaround plans.

In its fiscal third quarter, the company reported its third consecutive year-over-year sales decline driven by a slowdown in equipment sales and subscriptions. Its loss per share of $0.12 was also wider than analysts’ estimate of $0.06.

Peloton stock fell over 5% in premarket trading.

From Reuters:

Read more here.

Here are some stocks making moves on Thursday morning, an hour and a half before the opening bell. You can find more movers on our trending tickers page.

Nvidia (NVDA): Shares rose 1.6% higher on a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration plans to repeal AI chip export restrictions. According to the report, the administration will repeal a Biden-era rule, known as the AI diffusion rule, which caps the amount of AI chips that could be exported in order to prevent smuggling to China. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock also gained 1.5%.

Arm (ARM): Shares tumbled 8% after the chip technology provider issued a weak revenue forecast and warned about higher costs from the US-China trade war. Arm collects royalties for its chip designs. If the smartphone and tech market slow down due to tariffs, investors worry it could dent Arm’s revenue.

AppLovin (APP): The software company that helps monetize gaming apps announced it sold its mobile gaming business to Tripledot for $400 million, sending the stock rocketing 13% higher in premarket trading. AppLovin also reported 40% annual revenue growth and earnings that surpassed Wall Street’s expectations.

Shopify (SHOP): Shares dropped over 8% after the e-commerce company’s current quarter outlook disappointed Wall Street. The Canadian company forecast revenue to grow by a mid-twenties percentage for the June quarter, compared with a year earlier. Analysts were looking for 22.4% growth.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD): The company missed first quarter revenue estimates on Thursday, as it wasn’t able to offset weakness in its traditional TV business with box office hits from its studios division. Revenue fell 10% to start the year, though Warner Bros. has made a stronger start to the current quarter with titles such as “Sinners” and “A Minecraft Movie.” WBD stock dropped nearly 2% in premarket trading.

President Trump took aim at Fed Chair Jerome Powell after the central bank held rates steady for the third consecutive meeting — a “wait and see” approach as the Fed gathers data on the emerging effects of Trump’s tariffs on the US economy.

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump repeated a moniker he has been using to describe Powell — “Too Late.”

“Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue,” Trump wrote.

In a potential nod to market jitters after he relentlessly attacked the Fed Chair last month, Trump added: “Other than that, I like him very much!”

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

Utility stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 (^GSPC) year to date as power demand surges, even as tariff uncertainty raises questions about a recession.

The S&P 500 Utilities Select ETF (XLU) is up more than 6% compared to a 4% drop for the broad-based index, an 8% drop for Tech (XLK), and an 11% decline in Consumer Discretionary (XLC) stocks. …

The sector’s outperformance comes on the heels of a 23% gain in 2024 as data center growth from an artificial intelligence boom and efforts to onshore manufacturing spurred increased demand for electricity.

That demand is going strong despite fears of a recession stemming from the global trade war.

“No signs of recession in power demand,” noted Goldman Sachs analysts on Tuesday night. “Year to date, US power demand has increased by 5.5% year over year vs. the average annual growth rate of 0.6% in the past decade.”

Read more here.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares moved up almost 2% in premarket trading, set for further gains after reports the Trump adminstration plans to rescind and replace the AI chip export curbs introduced in the Biden era.

Shares in the chipmaker’s rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also gained 2%.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

The Commerce Department confirmed the regulatory shift in a statement to Reuters and Axios, saying Biden’s AI rule was “overly complex” and “overly bureaucratic.”

“We will be replacing it with a much simpler rule that unleashes American innovation and ensures American AI dominance,” a spokesperson said. …

The Biden-era rule, known as the AI diffusion rule, uses a tiered system to cap the amount of AI chips that could be exported to key US trading partners in an attempt to thwart chip smuggling to China through other countries. It also significantly limits the ability of US companies to expand their AI data center capacity abroad.

Read more here.

President Donald Trump has posted an announcement of an upcoming press conference at 10:00 a.m. Thursday to release details of a trade deal with a significant economic partner.

With no facts confirmed in the post, the belief is that the “BIG, HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY” referenced in the social post is the United Kingdom, according to an anonymous source reporting to Bloomberg.

Axon Enterprise (AXON)

The Taser and body camera maker saw its stock climb over 5% after delivering a strong beat on both the top and bottom lines. Axon posted adjusted earnings of $1.41 per share on $604 million in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.27 per share and $584 million.

Bumble (BMBL)

Bumble shares surged more than 7% on Wednesday, despite a lackluster update on user growth. The dating app platform reported flat user numbers for the first quarter, while revenue declined 8% year over year to $247.1 million. Looking ahead, Bumble guided second-quarter revenue in the range of $235 million to $243 million, coming in slightly below the $243.3 million expectation.

Zillow Group (Z) (ZG)

Stock in both arms of the real estate tech company fell more than 5% in extended trading after issuing a cautious outlook on the housing market. Zillow managed to post stronger-than-expected results for Q1, reporting adjusted earnings of 41 cents per share on $598 million in revenue. Marking Zillow’s first profitable quarter since 2022.