Wall Street added to its recent milestones Thursday as the market closed at an all-time high after Delta Air Lines kicked off earnings season with a solid outlook for the rest of 2025, spurring an airline stock rally.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, inching past the record it set last week after a better-than-expected June jobs report.
The Nasdaq composite edged up 0.1%, enough of a gain to notch a new high for the second day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished 0.4% higher.
Delta surged 12%, bringing other airlines along with it, after beating Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets. The Atlanta airline also gave a more optimistic view for the remaining summer travel season than it had just a couple months ago.
The airline and other major U.S. carriers had pulled or slashed their forecasts in the spring, citing macroeconomic uncertainty amid President Donald Trump’s tariff rollouts, which have consumers feeling uneasy about spending on travel.
“Companies are becoming more confident in the range of outcomes for tariffs,” said Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird. “Companies are starting to understand what the playing field looks like a little bit better, even though we continue to have these kind of tariff announcements that get bounced back and forth.”
Delta’s encouraging report boosted the entire airline sector. United jumped 14.3%, American climbed 12.7%, JetBlue gained 7.8% and Southwest finished 8.1% higher.
The market has been steadying following a downbeat start to the week as the Trump administration renewed its push to use threats of higher tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. in hopes of securing new trade agreements with countries around the globe.
Wednesday had been initially set as a deadline by Trump for countries to make deals with the U.S. or face heavy increases in tariffs. But with just two trade deals announced since April, one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam, the window for negotiations has now been extended to Aug. 1. That’s given Wall Street a breather just in time for the start of corporate earnings season.
Wall Street analysts predict that companies in the S&P 500 will deliver 5% growth in second-quarter earnings, according to FactSet. That would mark the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2023.
Conagra Brands fell 4.4% Thursday after the maker of Slim Jim, Swiss Miss and other food products reported earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. The company also lowered its earnings outlook, saying it expects continued cost increases due to tariffs.
finance.yahoo.com
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