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US Stock Market Updates: S&P 500 closes higher Tuesday, wiping out 2025 loss, as Nvidia surges

Published on 14/05/2025 01:44 AM

We will now wrap up the blog. Bye, folks!

The S&P 500 rose Tuesday, clawing back into positive territory for the year, as investors extended the sharp gains seen in the previous session due to easing U.S.-China trade tensions.

 

The broad market index gained 0.72% to close at 5,886.55, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.61% to end at 19,010.08. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, losing 269.67 points, or 0.64%, as a nearly 18% drop in shares of UnitedHealth pressured the benchmark.

 

Shares of Nvidia advanced 5.6% on news that the company would send 18,000 of its top artificial intelligence chips to Saudi Arabia. Peer chip stocks rose alongside the AI darling, with Broadcom rising nearly 5% and AMD

adding roughly 4%.

A group of small businesses urged the US trade court to block President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” global tariffs during a court hearing that could have a major impact on the Republican’s economic agenda.

 

Lawyers for the businesses and the Trump administration on Tuesday delivered arguments before the US Court of International Trade in Manhattan, where a panel of three judges is weighing whether to issue a nationwide injunction against the tariffs, and if so for how long.

 

The businesses argued that Trump invoked a bogus national emergency to justify the levies, while the Justice Department said the president’s decision shouldn’t be reviewed by the courts. The panel didn’t issue a ruling, which will come later.

Ukraine and the US have signed additional agreements concerning a natural resources deal, a key demand of US President Donald Trump, which is crucial for sustaining military aid for Kyiv.

 

The move brings both countries closer to finalizing a major profit-sharing deal aimed at securing US investment opportunities in Ukraine.

 

Two documents outlining the operation of an investment fund jointly established by Kyiv and Washington were signed on Tuesday, the press office of Ukraine’s Economy Ministry told reporters in Kyiv.

The Commerce Department issued guidance stating that the use of Huawei Technologies Co.’s Ascend artificial intelligence chips “anywhere in the world” violates the government’s export controls, escalating US efforts to curb technological advances in China.

 

The agency’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement Tuesday that it’s also planning to warn the public about “the potential consequences of allowing US AI chips to be used for training and inference of Chinese AI models.” The training of AI models involves bombarding them with data to teach them to recognise patterns. Inference, meanwhile, is the stage where models use that training to carry out tasks.

 

Commerce’s guidance stands to make it all the more difficult for Shenzhen-based Huawei to fulfil its ambitions of developing more powerful chips for AI and smartphones, efforts that have already hit major snags because of US sanctions.

House Republicans have proposed using their giant tax and spending bill to end duty-free imports of cheap foreign goods, a move that would eliminate a perk companies around the world have used to grow their US business for the last decade.

 

The provision, tucked into legislation key House committees are debating this week, would put into law — and expand — President Donald Trump’s executive order, effective May 2, halting the “de minimis” exemption on Chinese imports valued at less than $800.

 

The bill, which House leaders plan to pass in the coming weeks, would impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for companies that bring in illegal goods.

 

Small businesses and e-commerce companies say they rely on the de minimis exemption to meet their bottom lines. The exemption has fueled profits for online marketplace giants like Shein and Temu.

Industrial metals including copper were higher, as traders weighed the impact of the US-China trade truce against ongoing concerns about inflation and economic growth.

 

The latest data showed US inflation rose less than forecast in April amid tame prices for clothing and new cars, according to Bureau of Labour Statistics data. The softer-than-expected reading suggests importers and retailers are absorbing some of the extra costs, and imported products sold now had arrived before the tariffs were in effect.

The Trump administration plans to overhaul regulations on the export of semiconductors used in artificial intelligence, tossing out a Biden-era approach that had drawn strenuous objections from US allies and companies including Nvidia Corp. and Oracle Corp.

 

Under the move announced Tuesday by the Commerce Department, the US is rescinding the so-called AI diffusion rule launched by President Joe Biden that created three broad tiers of access for countries seeking AI chips and would have taken effect May 15.

 

Instead, the Trump administration is drafting its own approach and could shift toward negotiating individual deals with countries, according to people familiar with the matter.

After more than a year of teasing expansion plans beyond home rentals, Airbnb Inc. launched an overhauled app that’s not just for homeowners and travelers, but also for personal chefs, hair stylists, trainers and tour operators to offer their services widely.

 

The company, whose name has become synonymous with vacation stays, revealed its new Services offering and relaunched its Experiences tour-booking product at an event in Los Angeles on Tuesday. It’s vetted providers to offer 10 categories of in-home services, including personally cooked meals, prepared food items, full-service catering, photography, spa treatments, massages, personal training, hair, makeup and nail appointments.

 

The services can be reserved anytime even without a vacation booked, and many of them include “an entry offering below $50,” Airbnb said.

Daimler Truck Holding AG cut its sales and profit guidance for the year, citing increasing economic uncertainty in North America.

 

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax is now expected to range between –5% and +5% year-over-year because of the expectation for reduced sales volumes in North America, the German truckmaker said after the close of trading on Tuesday.

 

The firm also lowered its group unit sales expectations, now forecasting between 430,000 to 460,000 vehicles, while revenue for the Industrial Business is now expected at €48 billion ($53.7 billion) to €51 billion.

President Donald Trump cited a softer-than-expected inflation report to again pressure Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.

 

“No Inflation, and Prices of Gasoline, Energy, Groceries, and practically everything else, are DOWN!!!” Trump wrote in a social media post. “THE FED must lower the RATE, like Europe and China have done. What is wrong with Too Late Powell?”

 

Trump added that the Fed’s strategy was “not fair to America, which is ready to blossom.”

 

“Just let it all happen, it will be a beautiful thing!” he continued.

 

The consumer price index rose 0.2% in April on a monthly basis after declining for the first time in almost five years in the prior month. It was the third consecutive month where price growth came in below estimates.

US inflation rose by less than expected in April, helped by steep declines in prices for sporting events, eggs and other groceries.

 

Audio equipment costs, meanwhile, jumped by the most on record, according to Bureau of Labour Statistics data out Tuesday. Consumer prices for car rentals and computer software also climbed.

The Trump administration is weighing a deal that would allow the United Arab Emirates to import more than a million advanced Nvidia Corp. chips, people familiar with the matter said, a quantity that far exceeds limits under Biden-era AI chip regulations — and one that’s raised concerns that American hardware risks ending up in China’s hands.

 

The deal, which is still being negotiated and could change, would let the UAE import 500,000 of the most advanced chips on the market each year from now to 2027, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing confidential conversations. One-fifth would be set aside for the Abu Dhabi AI firm G42, while the remainder would go to US companies building data centers in the Gulf nation, according to the people.

Owner.com Inc., a startup making software for restaurants and other small businesses, has raised a new funding round at a $1 billion valuation, quintuple its value a year ago.

 

The company raised $120 million in a funding round led by Meritech Capital and the VC firm Headline, with participation from other investors including Alt Capital and Day One Ventures.

 

The California-based startup helps restaurants improve their visibility in online search, and aims to help convert visitors into paying customers. Owner additionally helps restaurants with AI-powered website-building and automated marketing. The company says it’s used by more than 10,000 restaurants, and plans to expand to other types of businesses.

A US consumer watchdog looks poised to tear up a controversial rule on customer financial data sharing and start all over again — but with a depleted staff, a potentially drained budget and all of the same thorny issues.

 

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is likely to scratch and rework its open-banking rule, which requires banks to share their customers’ deposit accounts and credit card information when they request it with fintech firms for free.

 

While such a move is ostensibly a win for large bank,s including JPMorgan Chase & Co., which lobbied against the measure, it could re-open the fight and risk expanding its scope at a time when the CFPB’s fate is in doubt.

Treasury debt slipped as gains for US stocks reinforced the broadening conviction on Wall Street that Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts are unlikely before December.

 

The US government bond market erased gains that were spurred by April inflation data that showed smaller increases in consumer prices than economists estimated. The two-year note’s yield, more sensitive than longer maturities to expected changes in the Fed’s rate, was little changed at about 4.01% after dipping to 3.95% in the rally.

OpenAI is considering building new data center capacity in the United Arab Emirates that could significantly expand its footprint in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The deal, which is not yet finalized and could still change, may be announced as soon as this week, during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations. Trump is slated to be in the UAE on Thursday. OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman is also in the region as part of a broader tour by tech leaders.

The US will remove all sanctions on Syria, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday.

 

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told a packed auditorium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the first appearance of his four-day visit to the Middle East.

 

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilising the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see,” he said in a wide-ranging speech that focused on U.S. relations with the Middle East.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has held talks with regulators about an Irish launch of its retail bank Marcus, a move that could shake up the country’s heavily concentrated market and give the Wall Street giant access to tens of billions of euros in deposits.

 

The early-stage discussions took place in recent months and Ireland was one of the locations being considered for widening Marcus’ footprint, according to people familiar with the deliberations. Another potential geography is Germany, where Goldman had intended to launch in 2019, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. No decision has been taken yet, they added.

 

“We remain focused on that business in the US and UK and are exploring our options for future growth areas,” a representative for Goldman said. The Central Bank of Ireland said it won’t confirm or comment on individual applications.

L’Oreal SA is preparing to sell investment-grade notes on Tuesday, in what would be the makeup company’s first time borrowing in the US corporate bond market.

 

The cosmetics giant is looking to sell a benchmark-sized, 10-year deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. Initial pricing discussions for the fixed-rate notes are in the 0.9 percentage point area above Treasuries, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing private details.

 

The company has issued euro-denominated debt before, having last come to market in October with a €1.25 billion two-part deal.

Oil traders are continuing to ramp up long-shot options bets that Brent crude can rally toward $95 a barrel over the coming months.

 

Call options at that strike price which expire in late July have traded more than 100,000 lots since the middle of April, with open interest growing by about the same amount. It’s the equivalent of 100 million barrels, and another 5,000 contracts were bought Monday.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. shares plunged after the car-rental company posted a larger-than-expected loss in the first quarter, pressured by a slowdown in customer bookings.

 

Revenue fell 13% in the period, contributing to an adjusted loss of $1.12 per share, the company said in a statement late Monday. Analysts had expected a 99-cent deficit on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

 

The company showed declines on multiple key metrics. While forward bookings from leisure customers were up from a year ago, demand from corporate and government customers has moderated.

It may only be a 90-day reprieve from the steepest of Trump’s China tariffs, but it’s enough time to entice companies to restart factory operations and start shipping.

 

Therabody, a Los Angeles-based maker of wellness products such as Theragun massagers, is ramping up production again in China, Chief Executive Officer Monty Sharma said.

 

He added that “in my 40 years of work,” he’s never been happier “about a 30% increase in our costs.”

Elon Musk said Saudi Arabia has approved Starlink for aviation and maritime use in the region speaking at an event during a White House-led trip to the kingdom on Tuesday. Starlink is the satellite internet service owned and operated by Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor, SpaceX.

European leaders are ready to wait until after a possible meeting between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Turkey before pushing the US to announce fresh sanctions on Moscow, people familiar with the matter said.

 

Following conversations between US and European officials on Monday, it was clear the American side wanted to allow an opportunity for talks between Russia and Ukraine to take place on Thursday before increasing pressure on Putin, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

Microsoft Corp. said it will cut thousands of workers with a focus on reducing layers of management. Planned reductions across the company amount to less than 3% of total headcount, a spokesperson said.

 

“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” the spokesperson said.

UnitedHealth Group shares tumbled 13% to trade at lows not seen since February 2021. The sell-off came after the company said CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down for “personal reasons” and suspended its 2025 forecast.

 

Witty will act as a senior advisor to his successor, Stephen Hemsley, who served as UnitedHealth Group’s CEO from 2006 to 2017. The company said its decision to pull its guidance was partly due to higher medical costs, which dragged down other insurance stocks.

EToro Group Ltd. is likely to price its US initial public offering above its marketed range, according to a person familiar with the matter, in one of the first deals to resume after the tariff-driven pause.

 

The trading and investment platform and a group of its investors are offering 10 million shares for $46 to $50 each, according to an earlier filing. The IPO has received orders for multiple times the number of shares available, Bloomberg News has reported.

 

The IPO is set to price late on Tuesday, the person said. Deliberations are ongoing and the final price could still change, they said. A representative for EToro didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bank of America Corp. plans to open more than 150 new financial centers by the end of 2027 as the second-largest US bank pushes further into growing markets.

 

The lender will open 40 new branches — what it calls financial centers — this year and an additional 70 in 2026, according to a statement Tuesday. Bank of America has invested more than $5 billion in its financial centers, both opening new branches and renovating existing locations, since 2016, according to the statement.

Wall Street got a degree of encouragement as data showed limited inflationary pressures from President Donald Trump’s trade war, with stocks rising and bond yields falling amid bets on at least two Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

 

The S&P 500 rose toward its highest level since February, the month marking its latest all-time high. Treasury yields dropped across the curve, with the move led by policy-sensitive shorter maturities. Swap traders, who sharply lowered their expectations for Fed rate reductions on easing US-China trade tensions, priced in about 55 basis points of easing for the year, with the first cut still projected for September.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.