Market Snapshot for Thursday 5/15/2025
- S&P 500 – 5,916.93 (+0.41%)
- Dow Jones Industrial Average – 42,322.75 (+0.65%)
- NASDAQ – 19,112.32 (-0.18%)
Market Performance
Stocks mainly fluctuated and traded mixed on Thursday as Walmart’s earnings took center stage. The S&P 500 did something it hasn’t done in over 40 years this week. The exchange has erased its 15% year-to-date loss in less than six weeks. This was the fastest recovery from a 15% year-to-date decline for the benchmark index since 1982, per research from Bespoke Invest.
Economic Takeaways
- Treasury yields are up sharply this week as Washington, D.C. continues budget negotiations and analysts lower their odds of a U.S. recession.
- Fed Chairman Powell says inflation “could be more volatile going forward” with more frequent supply shocks and warned of the possibility of “higher real rates.”
- Odds of a near-term Fed rate cut look dim, with chances for a June trim below 9%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. July odds are around 37%.
- Headline PPI contracted by 0.5% in April, below an expected gain of 0.2%, and rose by 2.4% on an annual basis.
- Initial jobless claims for last week were little changed from the prior reading at 229,000, and remain low from a historical perspective.
- Crude oil dropped 3.2% to around $61 per barrel early Thursday as media reported on progress on a possible U.S.-Iran nuclear deal.
- Bitcoin soared past $104,000 this week.
Thursday’s PPI Report
The Producer Price Index declined 0.5 percent in April, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, of the 10 key commodities in the hardware and building supply space tracked below, only two (millwork and plywood) index lower compared to a year ago. And only one (plywood) declined from March to April.
The softwood lumber index increased 8.6 percent year-over-year. A month ago, the increase was 12.6 percent.
“Construction input prices declined in April, but that was largely due to falling energy prices,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Materials directly affected by tariffs saw sharp price increases for the month. Steel mill product prices, for instance, rose 5.9%, while copper wire and cable prices increased 5.0%.
“While recent developments have reduced tariff-related uncertainty, the 25% tax on steel and aluminum imports remains in place, and a sudden resumption in imports from China could cause an increase in shipping prices.”
Walmart’s Tariff Warning is a Wake-Up Call to Consumers
Just when you thought tariff drama may be almost behind us, Walmart stirs the pot.
Trump tariffs are set to unleash double-digit price increases in some Walmart departments according to the company’s CFO.
“Low prices is what we stand for, and we’re going to keep prices as low as we can as long as we can,” Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on Yahoo Finance’s Catalysts (video above). “But when you look at the magnitude of some of the cost increases on certain categories of items that are imported, it’s more than what retailers can bear. It’s more than what suppliers can bear. And so, we’ll work hard to try to keep prices low. But it’s unavoidable that you’re going to see some prices go up on certain items.”
Rainey said increases will be noticeable later this month.
The big-box retailer also posted its first quarter report, revealing that sales rose 2.5% from the prior year to $165.6 billion. This fell shy of Wall Street estimates for $166.02 billion.
Top Gainers
Foot Locker +11.03 (85.70%)
DigitalBridge Group (DBRG) + 2.32 (24.40%)
Ibotta (IBTA) +10.11 (20.17%)
GRAIL Inc. (GRAL) + 6.10 (18.55%)
NV5 Global Inc. (NVEE) +3.34 (17.72%)
Top Losers
Biohaven Ltd. (BHVN) -3.84 (19.53%)
Fiserv (FI) -30.73 (16.19%)
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS) -30.56 (14.58%)
Unitedhealth Group (UNH) -33.66 (10.93%)
Reddit (RDDT) -11.73 (9.36%)
Notables
- Largest U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase revealed in a filing on Thursday that a preliminary estimate of the cost for a recent cyber-attack incident is “approximately $180 million to $400 million.”
- United Health shares reached their lowest levels in five years as a new report late Wednesday revealed that the company is now facing a criminal investigation by the Justice Department related to possible Medicare fraud.
- Cisco reported better-than-expected earnings, driven by strong results in the company’s networking segment.
- Foot Locker is being bought out by Dick’s Sporting Goods for over $2B. The stock surged 83% on the news.
- Berkshire Hathaway shares were relatively flat ahead of the company’s regulatory filing where the firm revealed it has not given up on Apple and has more than doubled its stake in alcoholic beverages producer Constellation Brands, while selling its holdings in Citigroup and Brazilian fintech lender Nu Holdings.
- Alibaba dropped ahead of the market open after the Chinese e-commerce firm missed on Wall Street’s expectations.
- Boeing inked an order from Qatar Airways for 160 aircraft. It’s the largest order in the company’s history.
- Cisco moved higher after its earnings late Wednesday exceeded analysts’ quarterly estimates and its outlook slightly surpassed the average Wall Street forecasts.
- Nvidia’s market cap went over $3 trillion this week but slightly retraced on Thursday.
- Applied Materials moved lower after missing Wall Street’s estimate for second-quarter revenue on Thursday.
- Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is delaying the launch of its flagship “Behemoth” AI model due to concerns about its capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
- Alphabet’s Google One subscription service, which charges consumers for cloud storage and artificial intelligence features, recently crossed 150 million subscribers, the company told Reuters.
What to Watch Tomorrow
On Friday, investors will get more of a window into how Americans are handling the arrival of tariffs with the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. A release of the report earlier this month showed declining sentiment and soaring inflation expectations.
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