Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It's been a mixed session for stocks amid ongoing earnings reporting and some economic news. Participants are also grappling with new developments on the tariff front. Major equity indices have traded above and below prior closing levels in response. 

Treasury Secretary Bessent indicated that the U.S. will be speaking to at least 17 important trade partners over the next few weeks. That figure doesn't include China, which indicated that there are currently no consultations or negotiations with the U.S. on tariffs. 

Also, President Trump continued signaling willingness to reduce the tariff impact on automakers. General Motors (GM 46.26, -0.99, -2.1%) is a standout from the auto space after reporting earnings, yet signaling that its initial full-year guidance does not contemplate the potential impact of tariffs.

UPS (UPS 96.33, -0.76, -0.8%) is another notable earnings-related loser while Honeywell (HON 209.89, +9.23, +4.6%) and Sherwin-Williams (SHW 348.56, +13.36, +4.9%) trade up sharply in response to results and/or guidance. 

In economic news, the April Consumer Confidence Index slumped to 86.0 (Briefing.com consensus 88.3) from 93.9 in March, pulled down by the lowest reading for the Expectations Index (54.4) since October 2011; meanwhile, average 12-month inflation expectations jumped to 7.0% from 6.0%, hitting their highest level since November 2022.

Other data included:

• March Adv. Intl. Trade in Goods -$162.0 bln; Prior was revised to -$147.8 bln from -$147.9 bln
• March Adv. Retail Inventories -0.1%; Prior was revised to 0.1% from 0.1%
• March Adv. Wholesale Inventories 0.5%; Prior was revised to 0.5% from 0.3%
• March FHFA Housing Price Index 0.1% ; Prior was revised to 0.3% from 0.2%
• February S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index 4.5% (Briefing.com consensus 4.7%); Prior 4.7%
• March JOLTs - Job Openings 7.192 mln; Prior was revised to 7.480 mln from 7.568 mln