S&P 500 and Nasdaq Hit New Record Highs After Alphabet Earnings and Trade-Talk Hopes

Barry Adams
24 Jul, 2025
New York City

Wall Street indexes fluctuated as investors reviewed the latest batch of earnings from leading technology companies. 

The S&P 500 index edged up 0.1%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.2%, and investors reviewed the latest quarterly results from IBM, Alphabet, ServiceNow, Tesla, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. 

Tesla extended its decline after automobile segment revenue continued to decline for the second quarter in a row, driven by backlash from the company's chief executive, Elon Musk's, political activities. 

On the economic front, initial weekly jobless claims fell for the sixth week in a row and fell to the lowest since April. 

Jobless claims fell 4,000 to 217,000 in the week ending on July 19, and continuing claims inched slightly higher to 1.995 million in the week before.

The U.S. agreed to increase its import duties on Japanese goods to 12.5% from the current average of 3%, but lower than the threatened 25%.

The two sides agreed to a revised trade framework; however, details of the agreement and start date of the tariffs were not released.

Japanese officials confirmed that Japan will work to implement the revised trade agreement "as soon as possible" and asked the U.S. not to impose the 25% tariffs in the interim. 

Moreover, the European Union officials are signaling a possible U.S. trade deal that could increase the tariff levels to 15%, confirming the TACO theory - Trump Always Chickens Out. 

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. dropped 12.4% to $46.21 after the burrito chain operator lowered its same-store sales outlook. 

ServiceNow Inc. jumped 6.9% to $1,022.0, and the software company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. 

The company reported a 23% increase in revenue to $3.2 billion from $2.6 billion, net income advanced to $385 million from $262 million, and diluted earnings per share rose to $1.84 from $1.26 a year ago. 

The company guided revenue in the third quarter to range between $3.26 billion and $3.265 billion, and for the full year to range between $12.775 billion and $12.795 billion, an increase of 20% from a year ago, respectively. 

IBM declined 6.6% to $263.24, and the technology company reported weaker-than-expected revenue in the second quarter. 

Revenue in the second quarter increased to $16.97 billion from $15.77 billion, net income advanced to $2.2 billion from $1.8 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose to $2.31 from $1.99 a year ago. 

"With our strong first-half performance, we are raising our full-year outlook for free cash flow, which we expect to exceed $13.5 billion,” said Chairman, President, and CEO Arvind Krishna. 

Alphabet Inc. increased 3.7% to $198.50, and the parent company of the Google search engine reported better-than-expected quarterly results. 

Revenue in the second quarter rose 14% to $96.4 billion from $84.7 billion, net income advanced 19% to $28.2 billion from $23.6 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose 22% to $2.31 from $1.89 a year ago. 

Google Services revenues increased 12% to $82.5 billion, reflecting strong performance across Google Search & other Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices, and YouTube ads. 

Google Cloud revenues increased 32% to $13.6 billion, which includes revenues from cloud and AI-related services. 

The company also lifted its spending outlook for the year, as the company ramped up its investment in cloud and AI infrastructure. 

"We are increasing our investment in capital expenditures in 2025 to approximately $85 billion and are excited by the opportunity ahead,” said CEO Sundar Pichai.