This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made the rounds of Sunday morning talk shows over the weekend, insisting that President Trump’s revised August 1 deadline for foreign nations wanting to make trade agreements with the U.S. (and avoid higher tariffs) was a “hard” deadline and wouldn’t shift again. In a move to mollify investors, Lutnick reassured that even countries that don’t sign agreements by August 1 can still reach agreements thereafter.
They’ll be hit with higher tariffs in the meantime, though.
As for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO), the broad stock market ETF closed at 576.92 Friday, and is inching higher premarket on Monday, up 0.1%, as investors appear to be looking past the tariffs turmoil today, and focusing instead on earnings.
Earnings
Speaking of earnings, S&P 500 component company Verizon (NYSE: VZ) reported an earnings beat this morning. The telecom giant earned $1.22 per share in Q2, ahead of expectations. Revenue of $34.5 billion also exceeded analyst forecasts. In a surprise development, however, Verizon reported that its wireless customer count, which was expected to grow by 13,000 subscribers, instead shrank by 9,000.
Despite this setback, Verizon raised its earnings forecast modestly, saying adjusted profit will grow from 1% to 3% this year. Free cash flow will run between $19.5 billion and $20.5 billion, also more than previously forecast.
The news wasn’t so good for another S&P 500 component company, however. Domino’s Pizza (Nasdaq: DPZ) missed on Q2 earnings this morning, reporting $3.81 per share instead of the expected $3.94. Sales were as expected: $1.15 billion.
CEO Russell Weiner noted, however, that Domino’s gained market share in the quarter.
Analyst Calls
In retail news, Barclays Capital downgraded shares of retail giant Target (NYSE: TGT) to underweight with a $91 price target. “Our analysis suggests comps have improved from Q1,” wrote analyst Seth Sigman, but “we believe that there is a ceiling med-/longterm due to growing competitive issues.”
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