Trump announces tariff deal with Japan, AT&T reports Q2 beat: Morning Buzz

The major averages were broadly higher near noon following several mixed days. The surprise announcement of a U.S.-Japan trade agreement, which slashes tariffs on autos and other Japanese goods, boosted global market sentiment and hinting at further trade progress. Meanwhile, megacap tech stocks remain in focus as Alphabet and Tesla prepare to report earnings. The “Magnificent Seven” continue to shape sentiment, though analysts warn of risks posed by market concentration, with the top 10 S&P 500 stocks accounting for over a third of its market cap.

Looking to commodities, the price of gold was slipping, while oil prices are dropping as well.

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists, and check out the pre-market Fly By on YouTube.

1. STOCK NEWS:

• President Trump announced a 15% tariff on upbeat Q2 earnings and revenue
• AT&T (T) reported better-than-expected Q2 results and reiterated its FY25 outlook
• Hasbro (HAS) provided a “beat and raise” report for Q2
• Capital One (COF) reported mixed Q2 results, saying it expects Discover integration costs to be higher than $2.8B

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Unity (U) downgraded to Sell at BTIG, here’s why
• Dynatrace (DT) upgraded to Buy at Guggenheim
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) downgraded to Hold at Truist
• Williams-Sonoma (WSM) upgraded to Buy at Gordon Haskett
• CN (CNI) downgraded at JPMorgan, National Bank and Evercore ISI following the rail operator’s earnings report and the “sudden departure” of the chief commercial officer after 15 months on the job

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• MediaTek and Broadcom (AVGO) are continuing to compete for Meta‘s (META) new application-specific integrated circuit projects, with industry insiders saying that both companies are performing at a comparable level, DigiTimes reports
• Roche Holding (RHHBY) has paused some shipments of Elevidys following a similar action by the biotechnology company that developed the treatment, Bloomberg says
• The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is probing Morgan Stanley (MS) to determine if the company properly vetted its clients for money-laundering risks, WSJ reports
• Amazon (AMZN) is closing its Shanghai AI lab, becoming the most recent U.S. company to pullback from Chinese research efforts, FT says
• Apple’s (AAPL) AI model team wanted to release several models as open source but SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi disagreed, largely concerned about public perception issues, Information reports

4. MOVERS:

• Abivax (ABVX) gains in New York after obefazimod met its primary endpoint in ABTECT-1 and ABTECT-2 trials
• GoPro (GPRO) and Krispy Kreme (DNUT) increase after reaching meme stock status
• Vicor (VICR) higher after (FI) lower after reporting Q2 results and narrowing its guidance for FY25
• Mara Holdings (MARA) falls after announcing proposed private offering of $850M of senior notes

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• GE Vernova (GEV) reported Q2 results, with CEO Scott Strazik commenting, “GE Vernova had a productive second quarter, positioning us well to continue to accelerate our growth and margin expansion from here”
• General Dynamics (GD) reported Q2 results and provided guidance for FY25
• Enphase Energy (ENPH) reported Q2 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Lamb Weston (LW) reported Q4 results, with CEO
• Teledyne (TDY) reported Q2 results and narrowed its guidance for FY25, with Executive Chairman Robert Mehrabian commenting, “we reported record quarterly sales, having achieved the greatest total and organic sales growth in three years”

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was up 0.95%, or 422.86, to 44,925.30, the Nasdaq was up 0.34%, or 72.05, to 20,964.74, and the S&P 500 was up 0.57%, or 35.88, to 6,345.50.