Published on 18/07/2025 12:53 AM
The House is expected to approve President Donald Trump’s proposal to revoke approximately $9 billion in funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid, as Republicans target programs they consider excessive or misaligned with their priorities.
The White House described the measure as a trial run, noting that if Congress supports it, further cuts could follow. If passed, this would mark the first time in decades a president has successfully submitted a rescissions request to Congress, with Trump receiving nearly all the reductions he requested.
Opponents raised concerns about the targeted programs and warned of Congress yielding its constitutional spending powers to the executive, as previously approved bipartisan investments are being reversed on party-line votes. No Democrats backed the measure when it passed the Senate 51-48 early Thursday. Two Republicans also voted against it.
The fundamental outlook for Netflix remains intact regardless of its second-quarter earnings performance, according to Bernstein. Shares of the streaming company were up nearly 1% in midday trading on Thursday after Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon reaffirmed an outperform rating and raised the stock’s price target to $1,390 from $1,200. The revised target reflects an 11.2% upside from Wednesday’s closing price, CNBC reported.
Only about one in four US adults say President Donald Trump’s policies have helped them since he took office, according to a new poll that shows low ratings for him across key issues, including the economy, immigration, government spending, and health care.
The poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, finds Trump failing to secure majority approval on any of the issues surveyed. His ratings on immigration—a consistent area of strength in his second term—have also dipped slightly since earlier this year.
Meanwhile, four stocks hit new 52-week lows: Elevance Health, Centene, Molina Healthcare, and Gartner.
On Thursday, 27 stocks within the S&P 500 reached new 52-week highs. Among the companies hitting this milestone were –
Shares surged 19% after the company reported a 19% year-on-year increase in net income for the second quarter. Earnings per share reached $1.44, beating the FactSet estimate of $1.20. Casino revenues grew 12.1% year on year, CNBC reported.
The stock declined 16% after the health insurer reported second-quarter earnings of $8.84 per share, missing the LSEG consensus estimate of $8.95 per share. However, revenue came in at $49.42 billion, above the expected $48.23 billion.
Shares of the electric vehicle company surged 31% following an announcement Thursday morning that at least 20,000 Lucid vehicles will be integrated with Nuro Driver technology and deployed through Uber’s ride-sharing platform over the next six years.
Shares of the footwear brand rose more than 5% after Citi upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The brokerage noted that the market is undervaluing the company’s acquisition of UK-based Kurt Geiger and said a consumer shift from sneakers to dress shoes should support its core business.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will be granted access to the personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees — including home addresses and ethnicities — to locate individuals who may be living in the United States without legal status, according to an agreement obtained by The Associated Press.
The agreement, signed Monday between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Homeland Security, states that the data will enable ICE to determine “the location of aliens” nationwide. The agreement has not been publicly disclosed.
Jefferies downgraded Starbucks to underperform from hold on Thursday, signalling an expected downside of 18% for the coffee chain, CNBC reported. The firm expressed scepticism over Starbucks’ turnaround strategy. Despite a more than 13% rally in the stock over the past three months, Jefferies believes the current valuation is not supported by fundamentals.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was “highly unlikely” to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a statement that followed less than a day after he privately indicated he was considering dismissing the central bank chief.
Trump acknowledged that during a Tuesday night meeting at the White House with around a dozen House Republicans, he brought up the “concept” of removing Powell, whom he has frequently criticised for not cutting interest rates.
After an earlier pullback, consumers picked up their spending in June despite anxiety over tariffs and the state of the US economy. Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.6 per cent in June after declining 0.9 per cent in May, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Sales in April fell 0.1 per cent, pulled down by a steep drop in auto sales, after Americans ramped up their car-buying in March to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent duty on imported cars and car parts.
Excluding autos and automotive parts, sales rose 0.5 per cent, according to the Commerce Department.
PepsiCo gains as Q2 earnings top estimates despite soft U.S. demand
PepsiCo shares advanced more than 1% after the company delivered second-quarter results that topped analyst forecasts. The food and beverage giant reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share on revenue of $22.73 billion, beating LSEG projections of $2.03 per share and $22.27 billion in revenue, even as domestic demand declined.
United Airlines stock fell over 1% in premarket trading after the company revised its 2025 profit forecast downward. Despite beating earnings estimates for the second quarter, United now expects full-year earnings between $9 and $11 per share, down from its previous projection of $11.50 to $13.50. Its third-quarter outlook, however, remained in line with analyst estimates.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing shares climbed 3.3% following a strong second-quarter performance. The chipmaker’s net profit surged 61% year-on-year, setting a new record and surpassing market expectations.
Shares of GE Aerospace rose nearly 1% after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter results. The jet engine manufacturer posted adjusted earnings of $1.66 per share on revenue of $10.15 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.43 per share and $9.59 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. GE Aerospace also revised its full-year guidance upwards across multiple metrics.
Confidence among US homebuilders in July edged up from a more than two-year low, though a growing share of companies are cutting prices to nudge buyers off the sidelines.
An index of housing market conditions from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo improved 1 point to 33 this month, still one of the lowest readings since the end of 2022. The gauge matched the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
The index was last up only 0.1% (largely flat) at 44,524.00 points.
Alcoa Corp., the largest US aluminum producer, said tariffs on imports from Canada cost it $115 million in the second quarter, showing how US President Donald Trump’s trade agenda has affected the industry.
The company redirected Canadian produced aluminum to customers outside the US to mitigate additional tariff costs, it said Wednesday while reporting earnings that beat analyst estimates.
Alcoa shares rose as much as 6.4% Thursday in New York, the biggest intraday increase since June 26.
US stocks drifted higher on Thursday to trade near fresh all-time highs as retail sales rebounded in June, easing concerns about a slowdown in consumer spending.
The S&P 500 Index was up 0.2% as of 9:40 a.m. in New York, leaving it less than 0.1% from a record. The Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.2%, after notching a new all-time high a day earlier. Gains were kept in check as a basket tracking so-called Magnificent Seven stocks including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. was flat. Nvidia Corp. rose just 0.1%. Treasury yields are little changed and the dollar rose.
With Netflix Inc. shares trading near their highest valuations going back to 2022, there’s a lot riding on the streaming giant’s upcoming earnings report and its outlook for the months ahead.
Expectations have been building around a second-half slate of blockbuster sequels, including the highly anticipated Stranger Things. The stock price has nearly doubled over the past year, adding about $250 billion in market value and lifting Netflix’s forward price-to-earnings ratio to 43 times, well above the Nasdaq 100’s 27 times. Shares are edging higher, rising 0.7%, ahead of the company’s second-quarter results due after the US market closes.
“Netflix shares are priced for perfection, there isn’t a lot of room for error,” said Daniel Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Co. “Everybody is expecting the second half to be really strong.”
Archer-Daniels-Midland shares slid about 1.5% in the premarket Thursday after President Donald Trump said that Coca-Cola has agreed to reformulate its drinks with real cane sugar in the US.
“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so. I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post published Wednesday.
The dollar rose after a better-than-estimated retail sales report and a drop in jobless claims reinforced speculation the Federal Reserve will stay on hold for now. Stocks and bonds wavered.
The greenback resumed its month-to-date climb while the S&P 500 and bond yields were little changed. Money markets are pricing fewer than two Fed rate cuts this year, down from the possibility of three at the start of the month.
Key data releases on Thursday reflected strength in the US economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims for the week ending July 12 came out at 221,000, marking a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week.
Separately, retail sales in June rose more than expected, according to new data from the US Census Bureau. Retail sales were up 0.6% from May, beating the 0.2% estimate from the Dow Jones consensus.
Abbott Laboratories’ fell after the company lowered the top end of its full-year guidance.
The company now expects adjusted full-year earnings in the range of $5.10 to $5.20 a share, down from its earlier guidance of $5.05 to $5.25 a share.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Ford said on a call with analysts that the cost of tariffs will “be just under $200 million,” this year. The company said last quarter that it had considered raising its earnings guidance before tariffs were announced.
Stocks rose after a better-than-estimated retail sales report and a drop in jobless claims pointed to economic resilience. The dollar bounced. Treasuries wavered.
S&P 500 futures saw a mild gain in early New York trading. The greenback resumed its month-to-date climb while bond yields were little changed. Money markets are pricing fewer than two Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, down from the possibility of three at the start of the month.
US retail sales saw a broad advance, potentially tempering some concerns about a retrenchment in consumer spending. The value of retail purchases, not adjusted for inflation, increased 0.6% after declines in the prior two months. That exceeded nearly all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Excluding cars, sales climbed 0.5%.
Kevin Warsh, a candidate to be the next Federal Reserve chair, said independence for the central bank is “essential.”
But, he added, the Fed under Jerome Powell has strayed into policy areas where it lacks authority.
“History tells us that the independent operations in the conduct of monetary policy is essential,” Warsh said Thursday in an interview on CNBC. “But that doesn’t mean the Fed is independent in everything else it does.”
The US Dow futures were largely unchanged after data on jobless claims showed that the labor market stands strong. Separately, retail sales in June were up 0.6% from May, and up 3.5% from last year, according to new data from the US Census Bureau.
A couple key releases on Wednesday are signaling good news for the US economy.
Jobless claims are suggesting that the labor market remains strong. The figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 221,000 for the week ending July 12, marking a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to US Department of Labor data.
Separately, retail sales in June were up 0.6% from May, and up 3.5% from last year, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That beat the 0.2% headline retail sales estimate.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.