Day Traders Diary

4/30/25

The major averages close mixed to end one of the wildest months in years as trade tariffs and first quarter earnings dominated the financial headlines following the first 100 days of the Trump administration. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141 points, or 0.35%. The S&P 500 rose 8 points or 0.15% while the Nasdaq Composite fell 14 points or 0.09%.

For the wild month of April, the major averages, after dropping 15% on tariffs fears, were able to claw their way back to the unchanged level with the Nasdaq actually finishing up for the month.

Plenty of earnings once again today with lackluster results. A number of stocks are lower on earnings including Super Micro Computer, Visa, Starbucks, Snap, Caterpillar, Hess, UBS, Stellantis, Yum Brands China, IP, Norwegian Cruise lines, First Solar, Adidas and Scotts Miracle Gro.

A few stocks are higher on earnings including GE Healthcare, Humana, Seagate and Mondelez.

On the economic front, the first quarter GDP declined 0.3%, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, a rapid reversal from a 2.4% increase in the fourth quarter. Some traders noted that the figures were skewed by a 41% surge in imports in the last quarter as companies looked to get ahead of Trump's tariffs. However, the report also showed a big slowdown in consumer spending and a decline in government expenditures amid Elon Musk's DOGE cuts. Consumer spending for the first quarter marked its slowest quarterly gain since the second quarter of 2023, spending still came in better than expected in March, as a separate report revealed that it was up 0.7% last month. That's above the 0.5% that was expected.

Surprisingly, interest rates did not move much with the 10-year Treasury yield was little changed at 4.18%. The 2-year Treasury yield dipped more than 3 basis points to 3.62%.

The weakest sector today was oil and energy on the weak economic data. The price of oil fell 4% to a four year low of $58 a barrel. Gold and bitcoin were also lower.