NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is giving back some of its winning week and month on Friday following a mixed set of profit reports from Gap, Ulta Beauty and other companies navigating the challenges created by President Donald Trump’s on-and-off tariffs.
The S&P 500 was down 0.4% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 119 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.
Gap helped drag the market down even though the retailer reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company behind Banana Republic and Old Navy fell 19% after saying tariffs on imports from China and other countries could add up to $300 million to its costs this fiscal year. It has strategies set to mitigate up to half of that before it hits its profits.
This week and month on Wall Street have been dominated by questions about what will happen with Trump’s tariffs, which investors worry could grind the economy into a recession, erode companies’ profits and layer even more challenges on households who are already sick of inflation.
Hopes had largely been rising that the worst of such worries had passed, which in turn sent stocks rallying, after Trump paused his tariffs on both China and the European Union. A U.S. court then on Wednesday blocked many of Trump’s sweeping tariffs. That has the S&P 500 on track for its first winning month in four and potentially its best in nearly two years.
But the tariffs remain in place for now while the White House appeals the ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the ultimate outcome is still uncertain. Trump also briefly shook markets shortly before the U.S. stock market opened for trading Friday, when he accused China of not living up to its end of the agreement that paused their tariffs against each other.
“So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
The impact was limited though, and futures for U.S. stock indexes quickly pared much of their losses. Since Wednesday’s ruling, analysts and investors have been saying Trump and his administration would likely find new avenues to impose tariffs on trading partners.
Trump has said he’s using tariffs to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States and that U.S. households and businesses may feel some pain in the process.
American Eagle Outfitters is one of the companies that has withdrawn its financial forecasts for the upcoming year, in part because of uncertainty about the economy. Its stock dropped 5.1% after it reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected and said it will keep its outlook for 2025 withdrawn.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Ulta Beauty, which climbed 14.5% after the retailer reported stronger sales and profit than analysts forecast and raised the top end of its forecasted range for revenue this fiscal year. That was even though CEO Kecia Steelman called the operating environment “fluid.”
Red Robin Gourmet Burger soared 75.7% after reporting a profit for the latest quarter, when analysts expected a loss.
Shares of SharpLink Gaming rose another 51% to bring its gain for the week to a whopping 1,680% after the marketing company said it would raise $425 million to buy the cryptocurrency on the Ethereum blockchain. The company delivers leads to U.S. sportsbooks and global casino companies and has been expanding into the global crypto gaming market.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were relatively steady after a report showed that the measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower in April than economists expected.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.42% from 4.43% late Thursday.
The Fed has left its benchmark borrowing rate steady at its last three meetings, in part due to uncertainty about how tariffs will impact inflation.
In stock markets abroad, European indexes rose modestly while Asian markets fell.
