US equities swung between small gains and losses at the open Thursday as investors parsed through a slew of tariff headlines and looked ahead to corporate results that are due to start in the earnest next week.
The S&P 500 Index was little changed by 9:32 a.m. in New York, with seven of the eleven sectors in red, and declines led by energy and utilities. The Nasdaq 100 was also roughly flat, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 0.1%. The Dow is trading near its all-time high level touched in early December.
Among individual stocks, Delta Air Lines Inc. shares jumped 12% after it reinstated a profit outlook for the year and said travelers are coming back. Conagra Brands Inc. fell 7% after the packaged food manufacturer posted fourth-quarter sales that disappointed. MP Materials Corp. soars after the company struck a multi-billion dollar public-private deal with the US Department of Defense to build a new magnet plant and expand rare earth capabilities. WK Kellogg Co. shares rose 31%, with Ferrero International SA said to be nearing a deal to acquire it for about $3 billion.
The confusion around trade policy continues, with President Donald Trump threatening to impose a 50% tariff on Brazil over its domestic political affairs, in the latest example of the president attempting to use tariff threats to accomplish other geopolitical goals.
Meanwhile, Trump has said that the US would begin levying a 50% tariff on copper imports starting Aug. 1. He also announced a string of new tariff rates for several trade partners earlier this week, even though investors have little certainty on how those will play out.
As a result, strategists are again sounding warnings about how this back and forth can soon start to hurt stocks.
