Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq recover as traders assess tariff developments, new jobs data

Snap (SNAP) shares soared as much as 15% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company beat on both the top and bottom lines and guided to first quarter revenue that was ahead of expectations.

Snap said it expects revenue in the current quarter to come in between $1.33 billion to $1.36 billion. That’s ahead of the $1.33 billion Wall Street had anticipated.

The company also sees daily active users reaching about 459 million, also ahead of the expected 458 million.

Here are Snap’s top and bottom line results, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates:

Chipotle (CMG) stock fell as much as 6% in after hours trading, before paring losses, as the company reported comparable sales that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.

For the fourth quarter, the fast-casual restaurant chain reported comparable sales up 5.4% below Wall Street’s estimates for a 5.67% increase. Chipotle’s operating margin of 14.6% also fell short of Wall Street’s estimate of 15.1%. The company’s earnings per share of $0.25 matched Wall Street’s projections.

Read more on Chipotle’s results from Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) dropped over 7% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after overall revenue missed expectations in the quarter.

Revenue for its all-important cloud business also disappointed, while capital expenditure spending came in ahead of expectations.

Here are Alphabet’s top and bottom line results, according to Bloomberg consensus estimates:

The company reported cloud revenue of $11.96 billion, a miss compared to Bloomberg consensus expectations of $12.19 billion. Here’s more.

US stocks closed higher on Tuesday, led by Big Tech, as investors assessed the latest trade war developments and fresh jobs data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) gained around 0.3%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose roughly 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped nearly 1.4% to recoup some of Monday’s losses.

Disney (DIS) is set to report its fiscal first quarter earnings before the bell on Wednesday as the company aims to extend recent streaming momentum and build on its latest string of theatrical hits at the box office.

Parks should face some uncertainty after Disney estimated in November that Hurricanes Helene and Milton would register a hit of about $130 million in the quarter, while the Disney cruise line pre-launches will tack on an additional $90 million.

Still, the company said operating income at the parks will improve beyond the first quarter, estimating growth between 6% and 8% for full-year 2025.

Here’s how Wall Street expects Disney to perform, according to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:

Streaming profitability should once again be a focus point after Disney said it expects its direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business — which includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — to post profits of approximately $875 million in fiscal 2025.

In its latest results, the company reported profits of $321 million for the three months ending Sept. 28.

Read more here.

Job openings declined more than analysts expected in December, hitting 7.6 million, their lowest level since September.

But economists argued the details in the release were roughly in line with the “broadly stable” labor market Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell described in his most recent press conference on Jan. 29.

“The totality of the December JOLTS data are consistent with a labour market that has stabilized at a healthy level,” Capital Economics North America economist Paul Ryan wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday.

This dynamic can be seen in the ratio of job openings to unemployed workers. The ratio has been sitting at around 1 to 1 for more than six months now, reflecting significant cooling from the hot labor market of 2022 but still painting a relatively solid jobs picture.

For now, this helps paint a “familiar picture” of the labor market, according to Oxford Economics lead US economist Nancy Vanden Houten. It’s an environment where hiring has clearly slowed, but layoffs aren’t rampant and pushing unemployment higher.

“The December JOLTS report is consistent with the Fed’s view that the labor market is healthy enough to tolerate a more cautious approach to lowering rates, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding tariff policy,” Vanden Houten wrote. “We will be removing a March rate cut from our February baseline forecast.”

Robinhood (HOOD) shares held on to earlier gains, rising about 2% Tuesday despite the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) formally requesting the company “not permit customers to access” sports event contracts.

The development comes just one day after Robinhood said it would launch event contracts for Super Bowl LIX, a move that would have allowed users to place bets on who will win the game: the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles.

The event contracts began trading on Monday, but have since been suspended, according to the company.

“We are disappointed by this outcome, especially given that we had been in regular communication with the CFTC about our intent and plans to offer this product,” Robinhood said in a statement. “We’ve also taken steps to advocate for balanced regulation in the futures and derivatives markets, including participating directly in a CFTC roundtable, providing written feedback to the CFTC, and generally championing the economic benefits of event contracts.”

Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor Brian Sozzi has more on the story here.

Fox (FOXA) is about to enter the competitive streaming marketplace with its own direct-to-consumer service, expected to launch by the end of this year.

Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch made the announcement during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Tuesday, saying that while the traditional cable bundle still presents “the most value” for both Fox’s customers and its business, “we do want to reach consumers wherever they are.

Analysts have said Fox’s assets have been heavily skewed toward the linear pay TV ecosystem at a time when more consumers are cutting the cable cord in favor of less expensive streaming services.

To that point, Murdoch said the new service will target the “cord-cutters” and the “cord-nevers.” The company plans to release more details regarding the launch in the coming months.

Traditional legacy players have tried to adapt to the industry’s streaming transition. Along with Fox, CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) recently unveiled plans to invest $70 million into a “digital revamp” of its network, which also includes its own direct-to-consumer streaming product.

Fox’s management had hinted at plans to explore more streaming options. The new service it just announced comes after the abrupt dismantlement of Venu Sports, a sports streaming service that was supposed to launch from Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney’s ESPN (DIS).

Read more here.

It’s already a different trade war from Trump’s first run in the White House.

Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:

After announcing historic duties on America’s top three trading partners over the weekend, Trump then shocked markets again on Monday with a quick pivot on two of them.

As of Tuesday morning, 10% duties on China are in place, and the world’s second-largest economy has already hit back. The 25% duties on Canada and Mexico are on hold for a month as talks continue.

At a Politico event on Tuesday morning, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro said the president’s call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping will take place today and that a tariff pause will be on the table.

The unpredictable mix is clearly flummoxing Wall Street and the rest of corporate America.

“It is fundamentally different,” former US trade representative general counsel Greta Peisch said in an interview, noting that Trump is now “breaking new ground in what is a trade authority, what are they used for, and how expensive the transactions will be.”

Read more here.

Vaccine stocks Moderna (MRNA), Pfizer (PFE), and BioNTech SE (BNTX) all fell following news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cleared a key committee vote in his quest to lead the Health and Human Services Department.

Kennedy’s nomination now heads to the Senate, which is widely expected to approve his nomination.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La), a medical doctor, had been a key swing vote in the Senate Finance Committee. The senator confirmed his decision in a post on X, writing, “With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on, like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”

The final tally was 14-13, with every Republican voting in favor of Kennedy’s nomination. Every Democrat on the committee voted against it.

Tech stocks led the major averages higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gaining around 1% in early afternoon trading.

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) jumped nearly 2% to reach intraday record highs — its third intraday record of 2025. Shares are also currently on track for another record close.

Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), and Microsoft (MSFT) also rose, while AI chip heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA) climbed more than 2% in early trading as it attempted to stage a comeback from previous session losses of over 2.5%.

Palantir (PLTR) was the No. 1 trending ticker on Yahoo Finance early Tuesday after the intelligence software company’s quarterly and annual revenue forecasts exceeded expectations.

Shares rocketed roughly 25% to a fresh record high. Investors applauded solid demand for the company’s artificial intelligence products, which included higher US commercial and government sales in the quarter.

Late last year, the company secured a $400 million contract with the Army for up to four years.

Palantir has greatly benefitted from the AI boom, with shares up nearly 1,000% over the past five years. Still, its hefty market cap of over $239 billion has long been questioned by analysts.

On the earnings call, the company addressed DeepSeek concerns following last week’s sell-off.

“We would strongly discourage [DeepSeek] and don’t think any customer in the US government will be able to use it,” said Ryan Taylor, Palantir’s chief revenue officer.

Oil pared losses after sliding as much as 3% following China’s announcement of retaliatory tariffs on some US imports, including oil and liquified natural gas.

West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) recovered to trade near $72.80 per barrel, while Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark price, also cut losses of more than 2% to trade around $76 per barrel.

Earlier in the session, crude reacted to China’s announcement that starting next Monday, it would impose levies of 15% on US-imported coal and liquified natural gas (LNG) and 10% for crude oil.

This came in retaliation to the Trump administration’s implementation of additional 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports on Tuesday. On Monday, President Trump paused tariffs against Mexican and Canadian imports, which would’ve included oil.

Job openings declined more than expected in December as investors continue to watch closely for any signs of cooling in the labor market.

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday showed there were 7.6 million jobs open at the end of December, a decrease from the 8.15 million seen in November.

The November figure was revised higher from the 8.01 million open jobs initially reported. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected Tuesday’s report to show 8 million openings in November.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) also showed 5.46 million hires were made during the month, down from the 5.37 million made during November. The hiring rate was flat at 3.4% for the third straight month. Also in Tuesday’s report, the quits rate, a sign of confidence among workers, was 2% in December, unchanged from the month prior.

US stocks opened mixed on Tuesday as investors continued to assess back-and-forth tariff developments, with China responding to President Trump’s 10% tariffs with its own duties on US goods.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) edged down roughly 0.1%, while the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) opened just around the flatline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose about 0.2% on the heels of a losing day for stocks.

Overall, I’m not liking these earnings from PepsiCo.

The food giant’s 2025 sales and EPS guidance were relatively in line with consensus. The Street may have some concern about the company hitting those targets, judging by how the fourth quarter played out. Pressure was on the top and bottom lines in the company’s two most important segments: Frito Lay and North America beverages.

PepsiCo continues to see heightened competition in its categories and low-income consumers spending cautiously, given years of price increases.

Its shares are off by 2.5% in the pre-market.

I am talking to PepsiCo (PEP) chair and CEO Ramon Laguarta ahead of his earnings call today at around 7:45 a.m. ET, so I will jump back in here with more insights.