S&P 500 falls for a fourth day after weak consumer confidence data, Nvidia leads Nasdaq lower: Live updates
Stocks fell broadly on Tuesday, with the S&P 500
on pace for its fourth consecutive losing session, as traders weighed concerns around economic growth and global trade.
The broad market index ticked down 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite
dropped 1.1%. This week’s losses have pulled the tech-focused Nasdaq into negative territory for the year. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
traded higher by 168 points, or 0.4%.
The market took a leg lower after the most recent consumer confidence survey from the Conference Board came in much weaker than economists’ estimates. This follows a series of weak data releases last week, including lackluster manufacturing and retail sales numbers. Cautious forward guidance from Walmart added to worsening sentiment on consumer health and the economy.
“All of that comes together to call into question the underpinning of what has been the strength of the U.S. economy the last couple years, which is the consumer and the job market,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist analyst at Baird Private Wealth Management.
Investors turned to the U.S. bond market for safety. The benchmark 10-year Treasury
yield dropped below 4.3% and touched its lowest level since December.
Bitcoin, which has been correlated with stocks, fell below $90,000 to a three-month low. The blue chip coin is trading almost 20% below its all-time high reached on President Donald Trump’s inauguration day.
Shares of major bank stocks rolled over on Tuesday on rising recession concerns. Goldman Sachs
, Wells Fargo
and JPMorgan Chase
fell more than 1% each.
Momentum stocks that have powered the market’s gains also slipped. Nvidia slipped 1.1% while Palantir
lost more than 2%, bringing the stock down around 13% for the week. Electric vehicle maker Tesla
, another favorite among retail investors, fell 8%, while Meta Platforms
declined 1.2%.
Escalating trade concerns are also contributing to market uncertainty. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico “will go forward” after the current 30-day moratorium ends. The White House is also preparing for tighter curbs over China’s semiconductor exports, according to a report from Bloomberg News.
Investors are also looking ahead to Nvidia’s quarterly results release, slated for Wednesday after the bell for more insights on the health of the artificial intelligence trade. Shares are down more than 5% in 2025, underperforming the broader market.
Hims & Hers Health
shares plunged more than 27% in midday trading on Tuesday after the telehealth company’s gross margin came up short of expectations, eclipsing its fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat.
That move lower puts the stock on track for its largest percentage decline ever. The stock’s next worst day on record is Feb 21, 2025, when it plummeted 25.8%.
Hims & Hers has still outpaced the broader market both this year and over the past 12 months, however, climbing more than 54% and around 292%, respectively.
— Sean Conlon
These are the stocks moving the most in midday trading:
Read the full list of stocks moving here.
— Lisa Kailai Han
It has been a February to forget for the Financials:
— Adrian van Hauwermeiren
Peter Navarro, White House senior trade & manufacturing adviser, said on CNBC’s “Money Movers” that the cross-border flow fentanyl is still an issue in tariff negotiations with Canada and Mexico.
“There’s some negotiations ongoing with Canada and Mexico. And if we don’t get the kind of progress we need on people dying here in America from deadly fentanyl, then the president will do exactly what he said he would do, as he always does,” Navarro said.
President Donald Trump Monday that tariffs on Canada and Mexico “will go forward.” The 30-day delay on the tariffs is set to expire next week.
— Jesse Pound
The CBOE Volatility Index
, or Vix, spiked as much as 11.7% to 21.28 on Tuesday, reaching its highest point since Jan. 27, when it hit 22.51.
The Vix was last 7.5% higher at 20.4. The index measures the market’s expectations for near-term volatility based off the prices of S&P 500 Index options with 30 days to expiration.
— Hakyung Kim
Tesla
is no longer part of the $1 trillion market cap club.
The stock’s 9% decline on Tuesday has dragged its market cap below the $1 trillion level. Shares are on pace for their worst day since July 2024.
The EV maker is down around 35% from its record close on Dec. 17, 2024, and is currently trading at its lowest point since Nov. 2024.
— Hakyung Kim
The divergence in consumer discretionary and consumer staples stocks — which are down and up 5%, respectively — appears troubling, according to Wolfe Research’s Rob Ginsberg.
“It’s a development unlike anything we have seen since before the August flash crash, when the Disc / Staples ratio aggressively diverged from the S&P leading up to it,” Ginsberg wrote Tuesday. “Is this another warning sign of a similar drawdown to come?”
“At the very least, its certainly evident that pressure is starting to build in more cyclical groups like Tech, Industrials, and Materials while defensive groups lead the market YTD,” he wrote.
In particular, retail stocks look especially weak, he said. If the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), which fell to a four-month low on Friday, fails to bounce this week from its oversold condition, that could “just be the start of something more serious.”
— Sarah Min
The iShares MSCI Canada ETF
and the iShares Mexico ETF
are down 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.
The Canada-focused fund is headed toward its fifth straight negative day, while the Mexico ETF is on pace for its third consecutive losing session.
Month to date, the Canada ETF is down 0.4%, while the Mexico ETF is still up 4.8%.
Both countries have been put under pressure by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. Although Trump agreed to a 30-day pause on tariffs on both countries, he announced on Monday that the trade restrictions would proceed once the moratorium ends.
— Hakyung Kim
Last week, Nvidia
came close to fully recovering its losses from the DeepSeek sell-off on Jan. 27, but now the stock has fallen for two straight sessions. Nvidia on Monday closed more than 8% below its Jan. 24 level.
Jason Hunter, head of technical strategy at JPMorgan, said the chip giant’s stock chart looks like it could be stuck for a while.
“The NVDA rebound from 114.45 support stalled after filling the Jan 27 headline gap. We think the stock is range bound for now,” Hunter wrote in a note to clients.
Nvidia is set to report earnings after the market close on Wednesday.
— Jesse Pound
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 98.3 in February, well below a Dow Jones estimate of 102.3. That marks the largest monthly decline since August 2021, the Conference Board said.
“This is the third consecutive month on month decline, bringing the Index to the bottom of the range that has prevailed since 2022,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board.
“Of the five components of the Index, only consumers’ assessment of present business conditions improved, albeit slightly. Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a ten-month high,” Guichard said in a statement.
— Fred Imbert
Shares of Japanese trading houses Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Sumitomo popped Tuesday after Warren Buffett reaffirmed his long-term commitment in these mini-conglomerates.
The “Oracle of Omaha” said in his annual report Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway has reached an agreement with the companies to own beyond the initial 10% ceiling. These trading houses in Japan invest across diverse sectors domestically and abroad — “in a manner somewhat similar to Berkshire itself,” Buffet said. Berkshire first bought into the companies in July 2019.
Japanese markets were closed Monday.
“From the start, we also agreed to keep Berkshire’s holdings below 10% of each company’s shares. But, as we approached this limit, the five companies agreed to moderately relax the ceiling,” Buffett said. “Over time, you will likely see Berkshire’s ownership of all five increase somewhat.”
At the end of 2024, the market value of Berkshire’s Japanese holdings came in at $23.5 billion, with the aggregate cost at $13.8 billion.
— Yun Li
The S&P 500 began Tuesday’s trading session near the flatline.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 183 points, or 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3%.
— Hakyung Kim
In a recent note, Deutsche Bank macro strategist Henry Allen shared his thoughts on the four biggest dislocations currently in the market.
“Markets often behave inconsistently, with patterns that don’t make obvious sense across asset classes. This got us thinking about where some of the biggest dislocations are today, considering what looks odd, and therefore what might be ripe for a correction,” he wrote.
The four dislocations are as follows:
— Lisa Kailai Han
Service sector activity in the Philadelphia area tumbled in February, hampered by a major pullback in sales and revenue, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.
The Philadelphia Fed nonmanufacturing survey fell to -12.9 from 2.2 in January for the lowest reading since April 2023. The gauge measures the difference between companies reporting expansion against contraction, so any negative number signifies a pullback.
Within the survey, the sales/revenue index tumbled to -12.7, a 15-point decline and the lowest since May 2020. Indexes for unfilled orders and the average work week also declined, while the employment measure improved slightly and prices index eased.
—Jeff Cox
JPMorgan is taking a pause on Tempus AI
.
Analyst Rachel Vatnsdal downgraded shares of the healthcare technology stock to neutral from overweight. While Vatnsdal raised her price target by $5 to $55, it reflects downside of 20.9%.
Tempus AI on Monday posted earnings that missed expectations for the fourth quarter from analysts polled by FactSet on both lines. However, the company issued strong full-year guidance for revenue.
Shares plunged 14.9% in Tuesday’s premarket on the back of the report. That marks a turn for the stock, which has jumped since going public last year.
“While we continue to believe in TEM’s unique combination of diagnostics and data, we see shares as fully valued on a relative basis after the recent stock run,” Vatnsdal wrote to clients.
— Alex Harring
A bright spot for Home Depot as same-store sales rose for the first time in more than two years. The unexpected 0.8% gain during the fourth quarter far outpaced the 1.7% contraction analysts projected.
But as the sales picture has regained traction, another problem may be developing. Margin concerns are putting pressure on profits. Home Depot earnings beat analyst estimates by the slimmest of margins – by merely a penny per share in the latest quarter, according to LSEG. It was the company’s worst earnings performance vs. Wall Street expectations since May 2020, when the retailer missed consensus estimates due to all the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the COVID pandemic at that time.
Cost pressures seem to be creating problems for Home Depot’s bottom line. In the latest quarter, both cost of sales and operating expenses grew at faster rates than sales, causing margins to slightly undershoot Wall Street’s expectations.
Home Depot’s earnings issues look to be even more pronounced this year. For its new fiscal year, the company expects earnings per share to fall 3% year-over-year as a result of tepid margin and sales projections – far below the positive 4.6% earnings growth analysts have forecasted.
The expected downbeat earnings performance may be having another ripple effect on Home Depot shareholders. Dividend payouts seem to be a bit under pressure. In Tuesday’s earnings release, Home Depot said it is raising its quarterly dividend by 2.2% to $2.30 per share. Shareholders are still seeing a dividend hike, but it’s a significantly muted one – with this increase being far less than what the company has done in recent years:
Recent Home Depot Dividend Increases
Feb. 2025: +2%
Feb. 2024: +8%
Feb. 2023: +10%
Feb. 2022: +15%
Feb. 2021: +10%
Feb. 2020 (start of pandemic): +10%
— Robert Hum
President Donald Trump is seeking to escalate U.S. semiconductor controls aimed at China, according to a report from Bloomberg News.
White House officials have recently met with Japanese and Dutch chipmakers, per unnamed sources in the report. The U.S. is aiming for major semiconductor companies in other countries to also join in on pressuring China’s chip industry.
— Hakyung Kim
Shares of Home Depot
were down about 2% in the premarket despite the home improvement retailer posting fourth-quarter results that beat analyst expectations. The company earned $3.02 per share on revenue of $39.7 billion. Analysts expected a profit of $3.01 per share on revenue of $39.16 billion.
— Fred Imbert
BMO Capital Markets moved off the sidelines on Quanta Services
, saying that the stock’s valuation is “no longer a high wire act.”
Analyst Ameet Thakkar upgraded shares of the energy services stock to outperform from market perform. While Thakkar cut $22 off his price target, his $316 figure still implies 21.8% upside over Monday’s close.
The “recent pullback on power and related infrastructure offers attractive opportunity to lean into PWR.” Thakkar wrote to clients in a Monday note.
Thakkar said valuation and concerns about renewable revenue growth slowing drove the firm’s prior neutral view. But he said growth now appears to come at a “more reasonable price,” and the company’s 2025 guidance has removed risk from the near-term outlook.
“We no longer view either as a current obstacle and see PWR shares attractive at current levels for investors looking to add to or gain exposure to ongoing power infrastructure investment cycle,” Thakkar said.
— Alex Harring
While there may be more gains ahead for stocks in 2025, the level of growth seen may not be all that substantial, according to Alicia Levine of BNY Wealth.
“On the index level, we think this is a year where it’s positive but unsatisfying,” the firm’s head of investment strategy and equities said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Monday, noting that there were many more fresh highs by this time last year.
Additionally, when it comes to the state of the U.S. economy, Levine doesn’t anticipate that a recession will hit in 2025.
“Growth is good enough,” she continued. “We think disinflation continues later in the year.”
— Sean Conlon
Check out some of the stocks making moves in extended trading:
Read the full list here.
— Sean Conlon
U.S. stock futures opened around the flatline Monday night following a third straight session of declines for the S&P 500
and the Nasdaq Composite
.
Futures tied to the S&P 500
, as well as Nasdaq-100 futures
, were about 0.1% higher. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average
advanced 48 points, or 0.1%.
— Sean Conlon
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Hims & Hers Health on pace for worst day on record
Stocks making the biggest midday moves: Krispy Kreme, Chegg and more
Financials fumble February
Trump administration needs “progress” on fentanyl in Mexico, Canada negotiations, Navarro says
Volatility index reaches highest level since Jan. 27
Tesla drops below $1 trillion market cap
The split in consumer discretionary and consumer staples stocks is troubling
Canada and Mexico ETFs building upon losses
Nvidia’s stock may be ‘range bound,’ JPMorgan chart analyst says
Consumer confidence for February missed expectations
Shares of 5 Japanese trading houses jump after Buffett’s endorsement
S&P 500 opens flat Tuesday
Deutsche Bank lists outperformance of tariff-sensitive assets as one of market’s biggest current dislocations
Philadelphia area services index shows big pullback
JPMorgan downgrades Tempus AI to neutral
Home Depot’s downbeat earnings picture despite improvement in sales
Trump administration planning tougher chip restrictions on China
Home Depot shares fall even after earnings beat
Pullback provides buying opportunity in Quanta Services, BMO Capital Markets says
2025 will be a year that’s ‘positive but unsatisfying’ for stocks, BNY Wealth’s Alicia Levine says
Hims & Hers Health among the names making moves after hours
Stock futures open little changed
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Stock market today: Wall Street falls as US consumers get more pessimistic about inflation, tariffs
An American flag is displayed on the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is falling again Tuesday as U.S. households get more pessimistic about the economy because of inflation, tariffs and other policies coming from Washington.
The S&P 500 was down 0.4% in afternoon trading. It’s coming off a three-day losing streak after setting an all-time high last week. The Nasdaq composite was 1% lower, as of 1:01 p.m. Eastern time, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was an outlier and up 157 points, or 0.3%.
The U.S. stock market has been sinking since the middle of last week after several weaker-than-expected reports on the economy thudded onto Wall Street. On Tuesday, the latest update said confidence among U.S. consumers is falling by more than economists expected.
To be sure, the U.S. economy still appears to be in solid shape, with growth continuing at the moment. But for the first time since June, a measure of consumers’ expectations for the economy in the short term fell below a threshold that usually signals a recession ahead, according to The Conference Board. The increase in pessimism was broad-based and carried across both higher- and lower-income households, as well as older and younger ones.
AP business correspondent Damian Troise reports the stock market is trying to move back to record highs.
“There was a sharp increase in the mentions of trade and tariffs, back to a level unseen since 2019,” according to Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators at The Conference Board. “Most notably, comments on the current administration and its policies dominated the responses.”
The White House has the position that the lower consumer confidence reflects the overhang of the Biden administration and that the recent announcements by Apple and measures of CEO confidence reflect growth ahead.
Wall Street closely tracks such data because spending by U.S. households is the biggest engine driving the U.S. economy. And Tuesday’s report echoed what an earlier report from the University of Michigan suggested: Consumers see the current situation as OK, but they’re worried about the future.
Within the S&P 500, the heaviest weights included high-momentum stocks that had been among Wall Street’s biggest stars in recent years. Nvidia fell 1%, for example, while Tesla tumbled 8.1%.
Bitcoin also sank, falling back below $88,000, which dragged down stocks of companies in the crypto industry. MicroStrategy, the company that’s raised money with the express purpose of buying bitcoin and now goes by the name Strategy, fell 11.6%
Zoom Communications dropped 8.6% even though it reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected. Analysts at UBS pointed to the company’s forecast for revenue growth in the upcoming year, which fell a bit short of their own estimate.
They helped offset a 4.8% rise for Home Depot, which delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Ted Decker, though, said the retailer is still contending with an uncertain economy and higher interest rates, which hems in customers’ ability to spend on home improvements.
Home Depot was the biggest reason the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which includes only 30 stocks, was doing so much better than the S&P 500 and other broader measures of the market.
Slightly more stocks rose on Wall Street than fell, though many of the gainers were smaller in size. That means they have less of an impact on the S&P 500 and other indexes than Nvidia and Big Tech stocks, which are massive in size.
Keurig Dr Pepper rose 3.2% after the company behind Snapple, Canada Dry and K-cup coffees reported better results for the end of 2024 than analysts expected. Growth was stronger for its U.S. operations than for its international business, which contended with a heavy drag caused by shifting foreign-currency values.
The pace of profit reports is slowing, but what’s perhaps the most anticipated report is still to come on Wednesday. That’s Nvidia, which has grown to become one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks because of nearly insatiable demand for its chips.
Wednesday will provide the first earnings report for the chip company and its CEO, Jensen Huang, since a Chinese upstart, DeepSeek, upended the artificial-intelligence industry by saying it developed a large language model that can compete with big U.S. rivals without having to use the top-flight, most expensive chips.
That called into question all the spending Wall Street had assumed would go into not only Nvidia’s chips but also the ecosystem that’s built around the AI boom, including electricity to power large data centers.
In the bond market, Treasury yields pulled back as investors herded into investments generally seen as safer when U.S. economy’s prospects look rockier. Yields have been swinging sharply since President Donald Trump’s election, amid uncertainties about how his policies on tariffs, immigration and taxes could affect the global economy.
Dramatically altering relations under Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war.
Additionally, Trump has antagonized U.S. trading partners recently, threatening to raise tariffs and inviting them to retaliate with import taxes of their own. Trump said Monday that tariff hikes on imports from Canada and Mexico will move ahead after a one-month delay.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.30% from 4.40% late Monday, which is a notable-sized move for the bond market.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after falling across much of Asia. Tokyo’s Nikkei Nikkei 225 lost 1.4% after markets in Japan reopened from a holiday on Monday.
AP Business Writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott contributed.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
___
US stocks fell across the board on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s revived tariff threats and potential toughening of China curbs weighed on market optimism and the chances of interest rate cuts.
Consumer confidence also plummeted in February, notching its biggest monthly decline in more than four years as 12-month inflation expectations jumped and recession fears escalated.
In mid-afternoon trade, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell around 1.4% on the heels of a tech-led sell-off on Monday. The benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped roughly 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 0.1%.
The biggest move in markets early Tuesday, however, came from the cryptocurrency markets, where the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) tumbled below $90,000 for the first time since November.
Bitcoin touched a low closer to $86,000 in the early morning hours, its lowest level since early November. The price of ether (ETH-USD), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, fell around 10% to just over $2,400. Crypto-related stocks, including Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR), were also under pressure.
Trump’s signal that his trade overhaul isn’t over has unsettled markets wondering about the impact on growth prospects. Investors are parsing his brief comment that tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go forward next week.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) fell to its lowest level this year, around 4.3%, amid growing belief that tariffs will weaken the US economy. That prompted traders to bump up bets on interest rate cuts.
At the same time, his administration is said to be pursuing tougher chip curbs on China, after Trump issued a directive to limit investments between the US and the top trading partner. AI chip giant Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock was in focus with its highly anticipated earnings due Wednesday. The company is already facing headwinds from tariffs and export controls.
Elsewhere in earnings, Home Depot’s (HD) fourth quarter revenue beat Wall Street’s low expectations.
Bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) tumble is a “another chance to enter” the crypto market, according to Bernstein analysts.
“We don’t believe, anything fundamental has broken in our structural view of the current Bitcoin cycle,” wrote Bernstein’s Gautam Chhugani and his team on Tuesday after the token broke below $90,000.
“Long term, our mental model is simply a burgeoning ‘digital gold’ asset class, driven by accelerating institutional & sovereign demand,” said the analyst.
Bernstein forecasts bitcoin will reach a high closer to $200,000 over the next 12 months.
“We view the current correction, as another opportunity to participate in this cycle,” wrote Chhugani.
As for crypto’s sharp decline, the analysts said the bitcoin market “is following the broader equity risk sentiment driven by macro concerns around persistent higher rates, with fears of government turning deflationary with the DOGE program.”
Oil prices slid on Tuesday as traders weighed a muddied demand outlook on global growth concerns.
WTI crude oil fell over 2.5% to trade near $69 a barrel, its lowest level since Dec. 23 with the commodity on track for its lowest close since Dec. 10.
Brent, the international benchmark, also fell around 2.5% to trade below $73 a barrel.
The latest price action comes after the US imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Iran, the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:
Crypto stocks sank across the board early Tuesday as bitcoin (BTC-USD) dropped below $90,000 for the first time since November.
Crypto heavyweights Strategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) led the declines.
Strategy (formerly known as MicroStrategy), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, dropped more than 10%, extending the prior day’s roughly 6% decline.
Crypto exchange platform Coinbase sank around 8%, while crypto mining companies including Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Marathon Digital (MARA) fell around 7% and 10%, respectively.
Those declines were driven by bitcoin’s 8% plummet Tuesday to just under $87,000 a token, its lowest level since early November. The cryptocurrency is down about 17% over the past month, reversing direction after a massive rally following the election of US President Donald Trump.
Trump’s crypto-friendly stance had sent bitcoin above $100,000 last December. In January, it hit a record high of more than $109,000.
Read more here.
Tesla stock (TSLA) fell more than 8% Tuesday afternoon after the electric vehicle maker reported sales in Europe dropped 45% in January. Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:
Only 9,945 Tesla EVs were registered in Europe, down from 18,161 a year ago in January, per the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Meanwhile, overall EV sales jumped 37.3%, indicating that EV demand was strong, but just not for Tesla. Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands saw the biggest gains in EV sales.
Part of the reason for the drop in Tesla sales may be due to the Model Y, which is in the middle of a refresh, meaning customers may be waiting for the updated model. New competitive models from Volkswagen, Renault, and China’s SAIC Motor likely ate into sales too.
Also, Tesla’s sales issues in the EU come as CEO Elon Musk is seen as meddling in the region’s political landscape.
Like many other “Magnificent Seven” names, shares of Tesla have lagged the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) so far this year. Tesla stock has declined roughly 25% year to date, pulling Tesla’s market cap below $1 trillion.
Read more here.
Hims & Hers (HIMS) stock plunged 27% on Tuesday after the telehealth highflier posted better-than-expected fourth quarter results but confirmed it may soon stop selling some of its compound drugs for weight loss after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said a shortage of GLP-1 drugs has been resolved.
Investors sold off the stock over the potential loss in revenue from the blockbuster GLP-1 segment, which targets diabetes and weight loss.
On Monday, Hims & Hers CFO Yemi Okupe downplayed those concerns, saying the weight-loss business makes up only part of the company’s revenue.
“While we’re excited to have 200,000 subscribers join our weight-loss specialty over the course of the last year, it’s also important to not lose sight of the other 2 million subscribers that have signed up for non-weight-related businesses,” Okupe told Yahoo Finance on Monday.
Okupe went on to highlight that the company reported $1.5 billion in revenue for 2024, with $1.2 billion from sources other than GLP-1s.
“We do fully intend to abide by all regulatory requirements and, when necessary to do so, will remove all commercially available dosages of semaglutide from the platform,” he said, while still expressing confidence in the company’s weight-loss offering.
Read more here.
It was a sea of red on Wall Street as the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped around 2% following weak consumer confidence data and more uneasiness around Trump’s tariff plans.
The megacap “Magnificent Seven” players extended the declines from the previous session, with Meta (META) dropping over 3%, followed by Amazon (AMZN), Nvidia (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), and Microsoft (MSFT).
Strategy (MSTR) was the worst-performing stock in the index, falling around 11% as bitcoin prices dropped below $90,000 for the first time since November.
Consumer confidence declined sharply in February as more Americans felt uneasy about the future state of the US economy, according to new data released Tuesday morning.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for February came in at a reading of 98.3, a significant drop from January’s revised 105 reading and short of the 102.5 reading expected by economists.
“In February, consumer confidence registered the largest monthly decline since August 2021,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board. “This is the third consecutive month-on-month decline, bringing the Index to the bottom of the range that has prevailed since 2022.”
The “Present Situation Index,” which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions, fell to 136.5 in February from 139 in January.
The “Expectations Index,” which tracks consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, also fell to 72.9 in February from 82 last month. Historically, a reading below 80 in that category signals a recession in the coming year. This was the first time since June 2024 that the index came in below that threshold.
Meanwhile, average 12-month inflation expectations jumped from 5.2% last month to 6% in February.
“This increase likely reflected a mix of factors, including sticky inflation but also the recent jump in prices of key household staples like eggs and the expected impact of tariffs,” Guichard said. “References to inflation and prices in general continue to rank high in write-in responses, but the focus shifted towards other topics.”
“There was a sharp increase in the mentions of trade and tariffs, back to a level unseen since 2019. Most notably, comments on the current Administration and its policies dominated the responses.”
Read more here.
The major indexes struggled to mount a comeback on Tuesday, with tech stocks under pressure.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell around 0.3%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) hovered around the flat line. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) inched up about 0.4%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was a standout, with the largest cryptocurrency falling below $90,000 for the first time since November.
Home prices rose at a faster rate in December than the previous month, providing little relief to potential homebuyers.
The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index rose 3.9% from a year earlier in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, higher than November’s 3.7% annual increase.
The data captures a three-month period through December when mortgage rates remained steady at around 7%, a double whammy for buyers. The national index hit a record high for the 19th consecutive month.
On a monthly basis, prices increased 0.5% over the previous month in December, up from the 0.4% November’s monthly gain.
“The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index continues to highlight the upward trend of home prices nationally,” Brian Luke, head of commodities at S&P CoreLogic, said in a statement.
“Through this recent market cycle, the ability of Americans to grow wealth by participating in the upside of the US housing market, particularly if done through a leveraged position by securing a mortgage, has proven to be historically beneficial,” Luke added.
The index tracking home prices in the 20 largest metropolitan areas gained 0.5% in December, higher than thBloomberg consensus estimate of 0.4%. The 20-city index jumped 4.5% compared to last December.
Bloomberg reports:
There’s growing “suspicion” among investors about the scope for more S&P 500 gains at a time when European and Chinese stocks are outperforming, according to Bank of America Corp. (BAC) strategist Michael Hartnett.
“The longer it takes and the harder it is for the S&P (^GSPC) to get to new highs, the doubts grow,” Hartnett said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “Europe’s working, China’s working, even bonds in America are starting to work.”
The strategist has recommended international equities over US peers this year as he expects the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks to wobble after driving the US rally since the start of 2023.
While he said investors are far from pessimistic about big tech, these stocks are vulnerable to declines if the trade “doesn’t keep working.”
Read more here.
Chegg Inc. (CHGG) is taking Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) to court, accusing Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) product of gutting its web traffic and forcing a strategic business review. Once a go-to for students needing homework help, Chegg claims Google’s AI tools are siphoning users away by repurposing its content while keeping them locked within Google’s ecosystem.
The impact has been brutal — Chegg’s stock tumbled 22% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Bloomberg News reports:
“These two actions are connected, as we would not need to review strategic alternatives if Google hadn’t launched AI Overviews,” Chief Executive Officer Nathan Schultz said on Monday.
“Traffic is being blocked from ever coming to Chegg because of Google’s AIO and their use of Chegg’s content to keep visitors on their own platform,” he added.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read more here.
Home Depot stock edged lower in premarket trading after the home improvement retailer missed Wall Street’s earnings estimates. Notably, Home Depot’s same-store sales growth turned positive after eight straight quarters of declines.
Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:
In a slight improvement, the home improvement chain posted a 14.1% increase in revenue year over year to $39.7 billion. Adjusted earnings per share grew to $3.13, up from $2.86 last year and above estimates for $3.04.
Home Depot has been struggling as shoppers held off on major renovation projects thanks to high interest rates and more cautious spending overall. That pressure is expected to continue; total net sales are expected to grow 2.8% in fiscal year 2025, while same-store sales growth is expected to increase by 1%.
The results exceeded company expectations with “greater engagement in home improvement spend, despite ongoing pressure on large remodeling projects,” Home Depot CEO Ted Decker said in the release.
Correction: A previous version of this post listed the incorrect earnings figure. We regret the error.
Read more here.
Economic data: FHFA house price index (December); S&P CoreLogic CS 20-city (December); Conference Board Consumer Confidence (February); Richmond Fed manufacturing index (February)
Earnings: American Tower (AMT), AMC (AMC), Cava (CAVA), First Solar (FSLR), The Home Depot (HD), Instacart (CART), Intuit (INTU), Keurig Dr. Pepper (KDP), Krispy Kreme (DNUT), Lemonade (LMND), Lucid (LCID), Planet Fitness (PLNT), Workday (WDAY)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Why market worries about tariffs may be a ‘red herring’
Trump team is drawing up tougher chip curbs on China
Bitcoin slides below $90,000 as crypto selloff gathers steam
Nvidia’s H20 orders jump as Chinese firms adopt DeepSeek’s AI
There’s an ugly trend developing in the stock market: Analyst
Buffett bet sparks surge in Japan trading house stocks
Chegg slumps 23% after suing Alphabet over Google AI impact
While Warren Buffett has touted the “American miracle” of US economic growth, it’s his backing of Japanese trading firms that’s finding a receptive ear.
Shares in the likes of Mitsubishi (8058.T, MSBHF) and Marubeni (8002.T, MARUY) jumped in Tokyo on Tuesday after Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) revealed plans to bump up its holdings.
Mitsui (8031.T, MITSY), Itochu (8001.T, ITOCY) and Sumitomo (8053.T, SSUMY) also booked their strongest gains since last year in light of Buffett’s bet.
Bloomberg reports:
Warren Buffett’s conglomerate said in 2020 that it had invested in the firms. Berkshire originally agreed to keep its holdings at the companies below 10%, but the trading houses have agreed to relax the ceiling “moderately,” Buffett said in his annual investor letter dated Feb. 22.
“Trading houses are trading at well below their peak now, so Buffett probably sees this as a chance to buy more,” said Norikazu Shimizu, an analyst at IwaiCosmo Securities Co. “With Trump’s presidency and lots of changes to tariff policies, the market is uncertain, but trading houses are involved in a wide range of business, so Buffett likely sees them as a safe bet.”
Read more here.
Bitcoin sank below $90,000 on Tuesday, reaching its lowest level since November, when Donald Trump’s election as president kicked off a rally in cryptocurrencies.
But Trump’s resumed tariff push is weighing on crypto, just as it has done on tech stocks — with an added drag coming from a stream of confidence-denting headlines.
Bloomberg reports:
Bitcoin dropped as much as 6.1% to its lowest point since Nov. 15 before recovering slightly to trade at $89,700 at 8:50 a.m. London on Tuesday after hitting its lowest point since Nov. 18. Other cryptocurrencies also fell, with Ether, XRP and Solana down sharply for the session.
The recent turmoil in digital assets is a stark shift from the risk-on rally that drove crypto markets higher following Trump’s election in early November. Bitcoin has tumbled almost 20% since his January inauguration, as Trump’s combative stance against allies and geopolitical rivals alike shakes investor confidence, and concerns about elevated inflation linger.
Sentiment has also soured following a series of recent industry-specific setbacks, including the biggest-ever crypto hack targeting exchange Bybit and a memecoin scandal involving Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
Read more here.
Chinese tech stocks whipsawed as mainland investors helped reduce losses caused by concerns over US President Donald Trump’s decision to restrict investments between America and China.
Bloomberg reports:
The Hang Seng Tech Index had slumped as much as 4.4%, pacing losses for Chinese equities in New York, as Trump spelled out more measures. By 1 p.m., the gauge had erased most of its decline as more than $1 billion worth of money poured into Hong Kong stocks from China.
Mainland investors are doubling down bets on China’s artificial intelligence as a priority for President Xi Jinping in the tech rivalry with the US. At the same time, a 5% retreat in American Depositary Receipts reflects growing concerns among global investors that Trump will tighten scrutiny on Chinese companies and their US listings.
“I think this is one of those times when it’s an obvious time to buy stocks without even having to do calculations,” said Zhuang Jiapeng, a fund manager at Shenzhen JM Capital Co. “This is not the time to let go of positions in China tech.”
Trump’s latest directive renewed geopolitical risks that financial markets had largely downplayed this year. Chinese internet megacaps were on a tear in recent weeks as DeepSeek gave investors confidence on the industry’s growth potential.
A bulk of that rally has been driven by mainland buyers. They purchased a net HK$8.9 billion ($1.14 billion) worth of Hong Kong stocks as of 11:15 a.m. on Tuesday, taking buying for the year to around HK$225 billion.
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