Stock Market Live May 15: Trump Talk Forces Oil Prices Lower, and the S&P 500 (VOO), Too
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates. President Trump continues his Mideast tour. Still in Qatar at last report, he’s quoted in The Wall Street Journal today affirming that Iran “has sort of agreed to the terms” of a proposed deal that would see the Islamic […] The post Stock Market Live May 15: Trump Talk Forces Oil Prices Lower, and the S&P 500 (VOO), Too appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
This article will be updated throughout the day, so check back often for more daily updates.
President Trump continues his Mideast tour. Still in Qatar at last report, he’s quoted in The Wall Street Journal today affirming that Iran “has sort of agreed to the terms” of a proposed deal that would see the Islamic nation forego nuclear weapons, presumably in exchange for our removing sanctions on its oil.
Global oil prices are tumbling in response to the news (and the prospect of Iranian oil pouring back onto world markets). Brent crude prices are down 2.8% pre-market, barely above $64 a barrel. US benchmark WTI crude is down 2.9%, a little over $61. In other trade news, the President says he’s in talks with India, “one of the highest-tariff nations in the world,” to have that nation charge the U.S. literally … no tariffs.”
And yet, how are markets taking this good news? Not well, actually. Pre-market, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is set to open as much as 0.3% lower that it closed last night.
Earnings
Earnings season is starting to slow down a bit, with only a few dozen companies reporting this morning. Still, we have a couple big S&P 500 names to cover. Index component Walmart (NYSE: WMT) beat earnings today with $0.61 per share in profit and strong growth in its health & wellness and grocery businesses.
Fellow S&P 500 component Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) beat with $6.64 per share reported — a full $1 more than analysts expected! Deere did warn, however, that its sales will be down anywhere from 10% to 20% against 2024 levels this year.
Analyst Calls
Speaking of S&P 500 components, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) won an upgrade to overweight from Wells Fargo this morning.
Wolfe Research upgraded Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) to outperform. Wolfe sees the social media site showing “above market growth” and says the stock has a “reasonable valuation” given the growth rate.
UBS downgraded Alcoa (NYSE: AA) to neutral with a $31 price target.
The post Stock Market Live May 15: Trump Talk Forces Oil Prices Lower, and the S&P 500 (VOO), Too appeared first on 24/7 Wall St..
