Economists Divided on How Likely a Recession Is
37 minutes ago
Economists are split on whether President Donald Trump’s tariffs will drag down the economy enough to cause a recession.
Some see a downturn as a likely possibility as increased costs from tariffs hurt businesses and consumers.
Others think the economy is strong enough to weather the trade war without a recession, with employment and consumer spending remaining resilient.
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JB Hunt Drops as Execs Warn Tariffs Could Hit Demand
2 hr 8 min ago
Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) fell Wednesday morning as comments from executives on the potential impact of tariffs outweighed an estimate-beating first quarter.
The trucking company on Tuesday reported first-quarter revenue of $2.92 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $1.17, both down year-over-year but just above analysts’ consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.
Several J.B. Hunt executives spoke on the late-Tuesday earnings call about how tariffs are affecting demand from its customers, as well as its own costs. CEO Shelley Simpson said the company’s leadership “has explored various options” to “more aggressively eliminate costs in some of our scenario planning analysis,” according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense.
J.B. Hunt shares sank 6.5% in premarket trading Wednesday. They entered the day having lost more than 20% of their value since the start of the year.
Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Spencer Frazier said that tariffs “have the potential to impact both supply and demand, but the magnitude and timing is difficult to predict,” according to AlphaSense.
“Our customers continue to plan for multiple what if scenarios, but most of them are waiting for the dust to settle to determine how tariffs might influence and change their short- and long-term business strategies,” Frazier added. “As part of this scenario planning process, some customers are considering ways to alter supply chain freight flows and/or their country of origin sourcing. But these changes will be part of a much longer decision process.”
Some customers are adjusting their supply chain in a number of ways like bringing in some shipments ahead of schedule, changing where they get products from, or possibly delaying or canceling some orders, Frazier said.
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JB Hunt shares were down about 7% in early trading. The stock has lost more than a quarter of its value since the start of the year, far outpacing the decline of the S&P 500 over the period.
Nvidia to Record $5.5B Charge on China Export Crackdown
2 hr 54 min ago
Nvidia (NVDA) said it expects to take a $5.5 billion charge in its fiscal 2026 first-quarter results after the U.S. limited exports of its artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China.
The news, the latest salvo in an escalating trade war between Washington and Beijing, sent the firm’s shares tumbling more than 5% in early trading.
The company said in a regulatory filing late Tuesday that it was informed by the U.S. government on April 9 that it would be required to have an export license “for the indefinite future” to sell its H20 chips to China. Nvidia said the license requirement is aimed at addressing the risk that the chip would be “used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China.” The chip is less powerful than its newer ones and tailored to meet existing export limits for the Chinese market.
Bridget Bennett / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Nvidia’s Q1 results, which are expected May 28, are set to include the $5.5 billion charge “associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves,” it said. According to Morningstar Research, “China has shrunk to about 10% of Nvidia’s revenue from 20%, and we now expect it to go to close to zero.”
The New York Times reported that a spokesman for the U.S. Commerce Department said “that the administration was issuing new export licensing requirements for the Nvidia H20; a chip from Advanced Micro Devices, the MI308; and their equivalents.”
AMD (AMD) shares also were down about 5% this morning.
Major Stock Index Futures Point to Lower Open
3 hr 49 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.1%.
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S&P 500 futures slipped 0.7%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.4%.
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