Stocks Fall as Investors Digest News on Trade Talks, Brace for Jobs Report; Tesla Tumbles 14% Amid Musk-Trump Fracas

Biggest S&P 500 Movers on Thursday

50 minutes ago

Decliners

Shares of alcoholic beverage maker Brown-Forman (BF.B) plummeted 17.9%, falling the most of any S&P 500 stock and sinking to their lowest level in more than 11 years. The downturn came after the company behind Jack Daniel’s whiskey said it faces a challenging operating environment this year, citing geopolitical volatility, consumer headwinds, and uncertain tariff impacts.
Tesla (TSLA) shares plunged 14.3% as tensions mounted between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Since departing his role with the Trump administration last week, Musk has repeatedly criticized the Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill, prompting Trump to question his relationship with the SpaceX chief and former government efficiency official. In addition, a report earlier this week showed Tesla’s sales last month in Germany, Italy, and the U.K. fell compared with a year ago.
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) shares dropped 7.8% on Thursday, extending a pullback that began in Wednesday’s session. Investor optimism about the big data analytics firm’s expanding business with the federal government helped the stock hit an all-time closing high on Tuesday. Still, the integration of Palantir’s Foundry platform into numerous government systems has stirred controversy. Speaking with CNBC on Thursday, Palantir CEO Alex Karp rejected a New York Times report indicating the company may have been involved in compiling a surveillance database on U.S. citizens.

Advancers

After posting the steepest drop in the S&P 500 on Wednesday, Dollar Tree (DLTR) shares roared back, jumping 9.1% to secure Thursday’s best performance in the benchmark index. The recovery came after JPMorgan upgraded Dollar Tree stock to “overweight” from “neutral.” Analysts highlighted growth potential driven by the retailer’s expansion of its multi-price-point “MPP 3.0” strategy as Dollar Tree updates store formats to offer a broader range of products.
Shares of Cooper Companies (COO) gained 5.6% after the medical device maker outlined its strategic initiatives at an investor conference. The company is targeting faster growth in the contact lens market by expanding several key product lines and offering free lenses to encourage trials.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) shares gained 5.2% after Citigroup boosted its price target on the stock. Analysts cited improving trends from their research into web traffic and pricing in the cruise industry, with improvements in May after some softness in April.

-Michael Bromberg

Tesla Loses Spot in the $1 Trillion Club

1 hr 44 min ago

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s long-distance spat with the president cost the EV maker a spot in the $1 trillion club on Thursday. 

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) fell more than 14% on Thursday as Musk and President Donald Trump exchanged jabs across social media platforms. Thursday’s decline cut more than $150 billion from Tesla’s market capitalization, dropping its market value to about $913 billion.

Musk has been criticizing President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act for days. He called it a “disgusting abomination” on Tuesday, and on Wednesday urged his followers on X, the social media platform he owns, to tell their senators to kill the bill. Musk officially left his role in the Trump administration’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency last week. 

Trump responded on Thursday, telling reporters from the White House that he was “very disappointed” by Musk’s criticism. Trump went on to insist he would have won November’s election without the hundreds of millions of dollars Musk to support him and other Republicans. Trump later took to Truth Social to call Musk “CRAZY” and threaten to cancel Musk’s government contracts.

Tesla’s stock has been on a rollercoaster ride this year. Shares shed as much as 40% of their value in the first quarter as sales slumped, tariffs hit the stock market, and controversy swirled around Musk. They staged a comeback in April and May after Musk said he would step back from Washington.

Thursday’s decline erased much of that rally and put shares down about 30% since the start of the year.

-Colin Laidley

What to Expect From the Jobs Report Friday

2 hr 42 min ago

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release its monthly jobs report on Friday morning, and investors will watch closely.

The May employment report is the government’s official measure of the labor market. If other measures from the private sector are any indication, Friday’s report could be a harbinger of tariffs’ effects on the broader economy.

According to a survey by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, economists expect the report to show 125,000 jobs were added in May.

 That would be a slowdown from the unexpectedly high 177,000 in April.

“While trade policy uncertainty declined after the U.S.-China trade deal, it remained very high across the payroll month,” wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs on Thursday. “Elevated uncertainty is likely to disproportionately weigh on employment growth in months when gross hiring is particularly elevated, such as May.”

Economists also expect the unemployment rate to remain at 4.2%, the same as last month. Over the last twenty years, it has averaged 5.8%.

Official government reports on the labor market have shown it has been surprisingly resilient to tariff pressures. Still, economists and private sector reports indicate a rough road ahead.

Read the full article here.

-Taylor Tompkins

Brown-Forman Plunges as Spirits Maker Warns on Outlook

3 hr 40 min ago

Brown-Forman (BF.B) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 Thursday after the maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey warned about a “challenging” economic outlook this year.

The company that also has brands such as Woodford Reserve, Chambord, and Korbel predicted the operating environment in fiscal 2026 will have “low visibility due to macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility as we face headwinds from consumer uncertainty, the potential impact from currently unknown tariffs, and lower non-branded sales of used barrels.”

Brown-Forman sees both full-year organic sales and organic operating income to drop by a low-single-digit percent.

CEO Lawson Whiting said Brown-Forman faced “softening consumer demand” as well as “an exceptionally challenging macroeconomic environment,” and that it expects “continued headwinds.”

The company reported fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter earnings per share of $0.31, with revenue falling 7% year-over-year to $894 million. Both were short of Visible Alpha forecasts. 

Shares of Brown-Forman sank more than 15% in recent trading to their lowest level since September 2013.

-Bill McColl

Tesla Sinks as Musk-Trump Fracas Intensifies

5 hr 27 min ago

Tesla (TSLA) shares dropped Thursday, falling for a second straight day, amid a public spat between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump.

The stock was down nearly 9% in recent trading, extending Wednesday’s decline. It has lost about one-quarter of its value since the start of the year.

Musk left his role in the Trump administration last week. He has since attacked the Trump-backed budget reconciliation bill currently working its way through Congress, calling it a “disgusting abomination,” and urging the Senate to “kill the bill.” Trump at an event with the Chancellor of Germany on Thursday said he is “very disappointed” in Musk’s recent attacks.

Trump said that Musk “knew everything” about the bill, and claimed that the Tesla CEO only turned against the bill because of the cuts it would make to electric vehicle mandates and programs. “Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump said. “I don’t know if we will anymore.”

“Whatever,” Musk said in a post responding to a video of Trump’s comments. “Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.”

In a separate post, Musk called Trump’s assertion that he knew details about the bill “false,” and said that members of Congress did not read it before voting on it.

“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk posted minutes later.

Tesla has also gotten more disappointing sales news in recent days: Auto industry groups in several European countries reported sales data for May showing declines in Tesla sales as overall EV sales rose. Despite the weak sales, some analysts have pointed to the planned launch of fully autonomous Tesla rides in Austin, Texas this month as a coming positive catalyst for the stock.

The stock’s recent declines have rolled back some of Tesla’s gains after Musk in April said he would spend more time at his companies, and left the Trump administration in May.

-Aaron McDade

What Analysts Think of Broadcom Ahead of Earnings Thursday

6 hr 28 min ago

Broadcom (AVGO) is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results after the closing bell Thursday, with Wall Street expecting growing revenue and profits fueled by demand for AI chips.

Analysts on average expect Broadcom to report revenue of $15.02 billion, up 20% year-over-year, and adjusted net income of $7.8 billion, up from $5.39 billion a year ago. AI revenue is expected to climb 42% year-over-year and 7% sequentially to $4.42 billion. 

Oppenheimer analysts called Broadcom the “No. 2 AI franchise after NVDA,” in a note to clients last week, raising their price target to $265 from $225.  Broadcom’s “core franchises in networking, wireless, broadband, server/storage, and software support sustainable growth,” the analysts said. “We remain long-term buyers.”

Of the 14 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha, 13 have a “buy” or equivalent rating for Broadcom stock, with one “hold.” However, their consensus price target near $252 would suggest a decline from the stock’s current level. The stock was up 1% at $264 in recent trading, nearing an all-time high.

After Nvidia’s (NVDA) strong sales report last week, Morgan Stanley analysts said they “also are positive on [Broadcom] in the AI space, but we are hard pressed to generate additional enthusiasm.”

-Andrew Kessel

Stablecoin Issuer Circle Prices IPO Above Expected Range

7 hr 22 min ago

Fintech firm Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin, on Wednesday priced its upsized initial public offering above its expected range.

The offering now totals 34 million shares at $31 each, up from 32 million shares at an expected range of $27 to $28 announced Monday. The company is offering 14.8 million shares and selling stockholders 19.2 million shares, Circle said, adding underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5.1 million shares.

Shares are expected to begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “CRCL.”

USDC is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency, per CoinMarketCap, with a market cap of about $61.5 billion.

-Aaron Rennie

Five Below Soars on Strong Results, Boosted Outlook

7 hr 49 min ago

Five Below (FIVE) shares jumped Thursday, a day after the discount retailer posted better-than-expected results and boosted its full-year outlook on an increase in transactions and sales at new locations.

The company that advertises it sells merchandise at $5 or less reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.86 on revenue that soared nearly 20% year-over-year to $970.5 million, as well as same-store sales that grew 7%. All topped Visible Alpha consensus estimates.

CEO Winnie Park said Five Below saw “broad-based strength across the majority of our merchandising worlds.” Park noted the same-store sales increase was “transaction-driven,” and new stores put in a “strong performance.” The company added 55 outlets in the period, and plans to open 30 more in the current quarter.

Five Below expects full-year adjusted EPS of $4.25 to $4.72 compared with its previous outlook of $4.10 to $4.72, and sales of $4.33 billion to $4.42 billion, up from its earlier projection of $4.21 billion to $4.33 billion.

Shares of Five Below were up 8% recently, trading at their highest level in about a year. 

-Bill McColl

PVH Sinks as Calvin Klein Owner Says Tariffs Will Hurt Profits

8 hr 34 min ago

Shares of PVH (PVH) plunged in early trading Thursday, a day after the apparel maker warned full-year profit will be dragged down by new U.S. tariffs.

The company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands reported it now sees 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $10.75 to $11.00, down from its earlier outlook of $12.40 to $12.75. It explained that the guidance “reflects an estimated net negative impact related to the tariffs currently in place for goods coming into the U.S., including an approximately $65 million unmitigated impact to full year 2025 EBIT, or approximately $1.05 per share.” It added the effects would be partially offset by “planned mitigation actions” in the second half of the year.

CFO Zac Coughlin said PVH was “decreasing our outlook for profitability and earnings per share to reflect that backdrop and the current performance of our business.”

The news offset better-than-expected first-quarter results, boosted by demand in the Americas and Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). The company posted adjusted EPS of $2.30, with revenue rising 2% year-over-year to $1.98 billion. Both exceeded Visible Alpha forecasts.

Sales in the Americas were up 7% to $608.4 million, and 5% to $927.7 million in EMEA. However, sales tumbled 13% to $351.7 million in the Asia-Pacific region, and licensing revenue dropped 1.5% to $95.8 million. 

Tommy Hilfiger sales grew 3.4% to $1.05 billion, while Calvin Klein sales were basically flat at $886.1 million. Sales of its Heritage brand fell 5% to $49.4 million.

PVH shares were down 19% in recent trading. The stock has lost nearly half its value since the start of the year.

-Bill McColl

Watch These MongoDB Levels as Stock Pops After Earnings

9 hr 12 min ago

MongoDB (MDB) lifted its full-year outlook and boosted its stock buyback program, sending shares of the AI-powered software sharply higher on Thursday.

The company said its flagship Atlas multi-cloud database subscription offering, which accounts for the lion’s share of net sales, recorded revenue growth of 26% in its latest quarter, adding that the firm also registered the highest total net customer additions in six years as enterprises and startups seek to modernize existing software and build new AI applications.

Heading into MongoDB’s earnings, the stock was 14% lower over the past 12 months but had recovered 42% from its early-April low amid a strong rebound in AI software stocks. The stock was up 15% at around $229 in early trading Thursday.

MongoDB shares have carved out an inverse head and shoulders-like pattern between March and June, paving the way for a bullish upside reversal.

More recently, the pattern’s right shoulder found support just above the 50-day moving average (MA), with the relative strength index (RSI) confirming strengthening price momentum. That momentum could accelerate in Thursday’s trading session following the company’s better-than-expected quarterly results.

Investors should watch crucial overhead areas on MongoDB’s chart around $253, $298, and $355, while also monitoring a key support level near $212.

-Timothy Smith

Major Index Futures Holding Steady This Morning

10 hr 56 min ago

Futures tied to major U.S. stock indexes were each up less than 0.1% in recent trading.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

S&P 500

Nasdaq 100