US stocks opened on a cautious note Friday, barely budging after a strong three-day rally, as investors parsed through mixed earnings from tech heavyweights and fresh trade rhetoric from the White House.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 65 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hovered slightly below the flatline.
Despite Friday’s muted session, all three indices are set to post solid weekly gains: the S&P 500 has risen 3.8%, the Nasdaq has gone up 5.4%, and the Dow is up around 2%.
Earnings results from Alphabet helped underpin some market strength.
Shares of the Google parent surged 3% after it posted better-than-expected first-quarter revenue and profits, further bolstering sentiment around the “Magnificent Seven” names.
Market optimism was tempered by renewed trade war jitters.
Trump tariff uncertainty continues
In an interview published Friday by Time magazine, President Donald Trump said he would consider it a “total victory” if the US maintains high tariffs—ranging from 20% to 50%—on foreign imports a year from now.
Trump also denied that rising bond yields played a role in his decision to grant a temporary 90-day pause on most of the recently announced tariff hikes.
While Trump teased the possibility of multiple trade deal announcements “over the next three to four weeks,” his stance injected fresh uncertainty into an already volatile backdrop.
“I’ve made 200 deals,” the president said in the interview published early on Friday.
Stocks have remained in a choppy trading range since his April 2 announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs, which imposed duties totalling 145% on Chinese goods.
Hopes for de-escalation were dashed Thursday after China’s Ministry of Commerce said there were currently “absolutely no negotiations” on trade with the US
Tech earnings could fuel a rally
Strong earnings from the “Magnificent Seven” could serve as the next leg up for US equities, according to Ameriprise chief market strategist Anthony Saglimbene, who cautioned that investors may be too distracted by noise around tariffs and macro uncertainty.
“It’s very easy for investors to get lost in the headlines around tariffs, around economic uncertainty, around a potential recession,” Saglimbene told CNBC. “
All of that has dampened some investor sentiment, but when you look at the numbers and what’s really weighing on major indexes right now, it’s the Magnificent Seven.”
He said the pressure on the broader market comes from sky-high expectations around a handful of megacap names that carried much of the gains into this year.
If those firms post “pretty decent” earnings, Saglimbene believes it could act as a catalyst for indexes to resume upward momentum.
The post US stocks off to a muted start: Dow Jones slips 0.2%, Nasdaq flat appeared first on Invezz