Wall Street rebounds on earnings reports and optimism over easing tariff tensions

From Yahoo Finance: 2025-04-22 06:15:00

U.S. stocks rebounded on Tuesday amid a flurry of quarterly earnings reports and optimism over easing U.S.-China trade tensions. President Trump stated he has no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chair Powell, and that tariffs on Chinese imports would decrease significantly, but not to zero.

S&P 500 futures surged nearly 2% after Trump’s comments, with Amazon, Nvidia, and Apple all rising in after-hours trading. Despite Trump’s criticism of Powell, all major U.S. indexes rallied over 2.5%, with the S&P 500 still down 14% from its record high.

Treasury Secretary Bessent anticipates a lessening of U.S.-China trade tensions, which could boost markets. The IMF slashed U.S. economic growth forecasts to 1.8%, citing high tariffs. The first-quarter earnings season has been positive, with 73% of S&P 500 companies surpassing expectations.

Industrial giant 3M Co saw an 8.1% stock increase after beating profit expectations, while Northrop Grumman and RTX faced significant declines. The Dow Jones rose 2.66%, the S&P 500 gained 2.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite increased by 2.71%. All 11 S&P 500 sectors advanced, led by financials and consumer discretionary.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a wide margin on both the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit new highs, with U.S. exchange volume at 15.21 billion shares. Market optimism prevails as investors navigate through trade uncertainties and strong earnings reports.

Read more: Wall Street ends higher on earnings, hopes of easing tariff tensions