Stocks Brave Higher Amid Earnings Boost Expectation Driven by Tariff-Driven Price Increases

Barry Adams
03 Jun, 2025
New York City

Stocks wavered around the flatline amid elevated trade tensions and economic uncertainties. 

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched higher by 0.5%. and investors overlooked brewing trade tensions with the European Union and China. 

Despite elevated tensions, investors are holding out for stocks to scale higher, as companies are expected to increase prices more than the increase in cost of goods sold. 

Retailers, industrial goods makers, automakers, and consumer goods makers are expected to raise prices starting this month, amid general expectations of higher prices rooted in Trump tariffs.  

U.S. job openings in April increased by 191,000 to 7.391 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, both hires and total separations were little changed at 5.6 million and 5.3 million, respectively.

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index increased 0.1% to 5,940.86, the Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3% to 19,294.10, and the Russell 2000 index advanced 0.1% to 2,072.49.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.94%, 10-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.42%, and 30-year Treasury bonds declined to 4.95%.

WTI crude oil increased by $0.42 to $62.94 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged lower by $0.03 to $3.67 a thermal unit.

Gold decreased by $36.45 to $3,345.03 an ounce, and silver edged down by $0.47 to $34.28.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, increased by 0.38 to 99.09 and traded at the lowest level since April 2022.

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Credo Technology Group soared 14.7% to $72.0 after the advanced connectivity solution provider reported better-than-expected non-GAAP earnings of 35 cents per share in the fiscal fourth quarter. 

EchoStar declined 2.7% to $17.75 after the company disclosed that it will halt interest payments of $183 million on a series of debt instruments because of the regulatory uncertainty linked to the Federal Communications Commission. 

Dollar General Corp. jumped 9.2% to $106.09, and the discount store chain operator reported better-than-expected first quarter revenue of $10.44 billion and earnings per share of $1.78. 

The company also lifted its annual earnings outlook, assuming that the current tariff outlook will remain until mid-August.  

Pegasystems rose 2.1% to $98.97, and the customer relation software developer lifted its adjusted annual earnings per share estimate to $3.94 from the previous estimate of $3.10. 

The CRM software company also lifted its annual revenue estimate to $1.7 billion from $1.6 billion. 

Hims & Hers Health rose 6.6% to $60.55, and the tele-health company said it plans to acquire the European tele-health platform operator Zava, increasing its current customer base by 1.5 million, or about 50%.  

Constellation Energy soared 11.7% to $350.74 after the company struck a deal with Meta Inc. to sell 1.1 gigawatts of energy starting in 2027 from its nuclear power plant in Illinois.