Market Highlights 💡 - 25 April 2025

US markets close higher on strong earnings, while Asian markets decline amid tariff concerns

🇺🇸 S&P 500 Index: 2.03% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq Index: 2.74% 📈

🇪🇺 STOXX 600 Index: 0.42% 📈

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: 0.49% 📈

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -0.74% 📉

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: -0.07% 📉

🇸🇬 Straits Times Index: -0.01% 📉

US stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rising 2.0% and 2.7% respectively, as investors digested mixed corporate earnings and monitored signs of a potential easing in US-China tariff tensions.

Initial jobless claims in the US rose by 6,000 to 222,000 last week, in line with market expectations, indicating that the labor market remains resilient despite economic pressure from import tariffs.

Asia-Pacific markets broadly closed lower, with the Hang Seng Index and CSI 300 down 0.7% and 0.1% respectively, after the US Treasury Secretary stated that the White House had not unilaterally proposed cutting tariffs, dampening market sentiment.

Upcoming Event:

This weekend, the US will release the final reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index.

Key Things to Know Today:

1. China stated that it is not currently engaged in any tariff negotiations with the US, contradicting earlier signals from the White House suggesting a possible easing of US-China tensions.

China US tension

2. Intel $Intel(INTC)$  expects second-quarter revenue and profits to fall short of market expectations, casting a shadow over the first earnings release under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan amid ongoing US-China trade tensions.

Intel

3. Companies across various sectors are raising product prices. PepsiCo $Pepsi(PEP)$  , Procter & Gamble $Procter & Gamble(PG)$  , and American Airlines $American Airlines(AAL)$   have lowered full-year guidance; Chipotle $Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG)$  and Essity noted a decline in US dining out frequency; Nestlé and Unilever warned of weakening US consumer confidence.

Pepsi Co.

4. Google parent Alphabet $Alphabet(GOOGL)$   reported revenue that beat market expectations, easing investor anxiety in the tech sector, with its AI investments driving returns in its core advertising business.

Alphabet Google

5. Following the first round of trade talks in Washington, Seoul and the US reached an agreement to draft a package deal aimed at removing newly imposed US tariffs before the July pause in reciprocal tariffs ends.

Key Takeaway:

As Q1 earnings season peaks, the uncertainty from the trade war is increasingly impacting corporate operations and consumer confidence.

@Daily_Discussion  @Tiger_comments  @TigerStars