US stocks end mixed as GM shares tumble and S&P 500 reaches record high

Yahoo

5 days ago

Wall Street shares ended mixed on July 22, with steep losses in General Motors and a gain in Tesla as investors focused on recent and upcoming quarterly reports and watched for signs of progress in U.S. trade discussions.
GM tumbled after the automaker reported a $1 billion hit from tariffs to its quarterly results, adding more fuel to investor concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump's global trade policy. Shares of Ford Motor also fell.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 22: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on January 22, 2025 in New York City. Stocks continued an upward swing opening up high a day after the Dow Jones closed up 500 points and the S&P 500 approaching an all-time high. The rise comes after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison made an announcement alongside President Donald Trump that they will create a new company, called Stargate, to grow artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Tesla climbed a day before its quarterly report, while Alphabet also reporting on Wednesday, also rose.
Optimism about heavy spending on artificial intelligence has underpinned a rally in Wall Street's most valuable companies, with the S&P 500 trading around record highs.
"The market is consolidating recent gains and is in a bit of a holding pattern with some huge catalysts over the next week or two, including the August 1 tariff deadline and a lot of important Magnificent Seven earnings," said Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird.
Other Big Tech stocks lost ground, with Meta Platforms and Microsoft both closing lower.
Shares of RTX dropped after the aerospace and defense giant t from Trump's trade war despite strong demand for its engines and aftermarket services.
Lockheed Martin tumbled after its quarterly profit plunged by about 80%.
U.S. trade policy remains a major point of uncertainty for investors and companies as Trump's self-imposed August 1 deadline for many countries to reach agreements with the White House approaches.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would meet his Chinese counterpart next week to discuss an extension to the August 12 deadline set for tariffs on imports from China.
Other trade negotiations appeared stalled, with optimism for a breakthrough deal with India waning and EU officials weighing countermeasures against the United States.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 gained 4.30 points, or 0.07%, to end at 6,309.90 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 81.24 points, or 0.39%, to 20,892.93. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 175.77 points, or 0.40%, to 44,498.84.
Philip Morris slumped after reporting second-quarter revenue below expectations, as shipments of its ZYN nicotine pouches disappointed investors.
Analysts on average expected S&P 500 companies to report a 7% increase in earnings for the second quarter, with technology heavyweights driving much of that gain, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.