Earnings fest is officially underway.
Sure, we are tracking comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell today, especially as they come during the Fed’s blackout period and a fresh attack from Treasury Secretary Bessent.
And yes, markets are hovering around new records on the back of enthused retail investors.
But mixed earnings from General Motors (GM) and Coca-Cola (KO) this morning shed light on the challenges corporate America is having, thanks to President Trump’s trade war.
Here is everything we touched on during Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid on Tuesday. Tune in live daily to Opening Bid at 9:30 a.m. ET.
The bull thesis in General Motors springs a leak
GM easily beat second quarter profit estimates and touted triple-digit sales growth in its EV business. But its reaffirmed profit outlook is causing some concern among investors.
GM warned that second-half volume will be lower than the first half, and it sees a $4 billion to $5 billion profit impact from Trump tariffs for the full year. In the second quarter, GM realized a $1.1 billion hit.
“While the tariff headlines continue to put further pressure on the bottom line for the foreseeable future, we believe Barra & Co. [CEO Mary Barra] continues to impressively navigate the complex backdrop successfully while seeing continued high demand for its entire fleet of EVs and ICE vehicles,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said.
Coca-Cola loses some fizz
Similar to GM, Coca-Cola easily beat analyst profit estimates for the second quarter. But also similar to GM, Coke investors wanted more meat on the bone.
Areas of concern in Coke’s report include only slightly raised full-year EPS guidance and soft volume in its key North America market. The concerns echoed those served up by rival PepsiCo (PEP) last week.
Evercore ISI analyst Robert Ottenstein characterized the quarter as “solid.”
The company confirmed speculation set off by President Trump last week that it will release cane-sugar-sweetened trademark Coke. The debut will happen in the fall.
Retail investor euphoria spills back into meme stocks
Record-setting markets have renewed retail investor appetite for meme stocks.
I continue to track wild moves in Opendoor (OPEN) — at one point on Monday, the stock gained 115%. It finished the session up 42%. Shares are up by double digits in the early going today.
Investors also appear to be engaged with other meme names in Beyond Meat (BYND) and GameStop (GME). Barclays estimates that retail investors have poured more than $50 billion into global equities over the past month, mostly via global developed market funds.
“In retrospect, ‘Liberation day’ ushered in historic retail-driven ‘buy-the-dip,'” said Barclays strategist Venu Krishna.
Eyes on Intel
Saying Intel (INTC) is expected to report an ugly quarter after the close on Thursday would be an understatement.
The company is expected to be barely profitable as new CEO Lip-Bu Tan begins to restructure the business. It’s been hemorrhaging market share to rivals AMD (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA). In many respects, Intel isn’t even in the AI chip discussion.
The lack of belief in Intel is seen in Wall Street estimates. Earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have plunged compared to 90 days ago, according to Yahoo Finance data. A majority of the analysts rate the stock at Hold or Sell.
Here’s what investors are yearning to hear from Lip-Bu Tan on his earnings call: One, how bad the commentary is on medium- and long-term guidance.
Two, how committed the company is to the foundry strategy of manufacturing chips for others.
And three, other non-core assets that can be sold off to ease cost pressures.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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