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What's moving markets today: April 25, 2019

By CNN Business
Updated 4:01 PM ET, Thu April 25, 2019
5:45 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

Ford shares jump 6% on solid earnings

From CNN Business' Chris Isidore
Ford posted solid earnings for the most recent quarter, sending its shares up 6% after hours.
Net income fell by a third, but most of the drop was due to charges for closing plants in South America, Europe and Russia. Excluding those special charges, adjusted income was slightly higher.

Both sales and profits increased for North America, one of its most important markets.

The company said that it expects that its sales and profits for 2019 will top 2018.
Ford didn't share any new details about its ongoing redesign of its global operations, which it said will cost it $11 billion in the next few years. So far it has spelled out only $1 billion worth of those plans.

"More to come" it said in a set of slides for Thursday evening's investor conference call.

Ford (F) is also looking to make new alliances as it restructures its business. It's teamed with Volkwagen to develop new products, and just announced a $500 million investment in Rivian, which plans to debut an electric truck next year.
5:08 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

Starbucks' sales in China and the United States are up. CEO says growth plan is working

From CNN Business' Danielle Wiener-Bronner

Shares of Starbucks (SBUX) rose about 2% after-hours Thursday, when the company posted good results for the first three months of the year.
Sales at US stores open at least a year jumped 4% in the period, beating Wall Street's expectations. In China, sales at stores open at least a year grew 3%.
The increases are a sign that Starbucks' efforts to expand in both the United States and China, its biggest markets, are working, CEO Kevin Johnson said in a statement. Johnson added that he's "especially pleased" with performance in those markets. Starbucks opened 319 new stores during the quarter, most of them outside of the United States.

Net revenues grew 5% to $6.3 billion compared to the same period last year.

The company also said that it now has 16.8 million active members in its US loyalty program, a 13% increase year over year.
4:34 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

What’s next for markets on Friday?

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
3M Thursday's trading day is over and (MMM) got hammered. Here’s what investors will focus on next.
  • It’s GDP day! The first scorecard for the US economy’s first quarter performance is due tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. ET. The consensus estimate from Refinitiv is 2% annualized growth.
  • At 10 a.m. ET, the consumer sentiment report for April follows. Sentiment is expected to have improved a little from the previous month.
  • Before the bell, Chevron (CVX), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Colgate (CL) report first quarter earnings amBecause it’s Friday and everybody has got to go home at some point, there are no earnings after the bell.
4:53 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

Mattel's stock surges on strong Barbie and Hot Wheels' sales

From CNN Business' Nathaniel Meyersohn

Barbie, Hot Wheels and Toy Story are carrying toymaker Mattel (MAT).
Mattel's sales fell 3% during its most recent quarter compared with a year ago. But that wasn't as steep as some analysts feared.

Sales for the three major toy lines were up, despite struggles for Fisher-Price and Thomas & Friends.

Mattel reported a net loss of $184 million during the quarter, but that was an improvement from the same quarter a year ago.

Mattel's stock surged 11% in after-hours trading.
"This was another strong quarter, demonstrating meaningful progress in the execution of our strategy," Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said in a statement.
Mattel was hurt last year by the Toys "R" Us' bankruptcy. Last July, Mattel announced it would lay off more than 2,000 workers.
5:01 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

Amazon posts another record profit

From CNN Business' Kaya Yurieff and Seth Fiegerman

Amazon (AMZN) is seeing sales growth slow, but it's making fatter profits than ever before.
On Thursday, the company reported a record profit of $3.6 billion during the first quarter of 2019, more than doubling from $1.6 billion last year. This is the sixth consecutive quarter where Amazon's profits exceeded $1 billion.

But revenue growth is slowing down as the company runs up against the law of large numbers. Amazon posted revenue of $59.7 billion for the quarter, up 17% from the prior year. By comparison, Amazon's revenue grew 43% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2018.

Read more about Amazon's $3.6 billion quarter here.
4:13 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

US stocks end mixed; Nasdaq falls short of fresh closing record

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
Stocks ended the day mixed.

The Nasdaq Composite fell just short of setting a new closing high that would have surpassed the record it set on Tuesday.

  • The Dow closed 0.5%, or 135 points lower.
  • The S&P 500 finished little changed.
  • The Nasdaq closed up 0.2% higher, falling just 2 points short of setting a new all-time closing high. Healthcare and utilities stocks were the main drivers
The biggest loser in the Dow by far was 3M (MMM), which reported weak results and slashed its forward guidance before the bell. Its shares closed nearly 13% down.
3:53 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

The Nasdaq is on track for a new closing record

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
With less than 15 minutes until markets close, the Nasdaq Composite is yet again on track to set an all-time closing record.

The index last stood at 8,130.75 points, compared with Tuesday's close of 8,120.82 points, which had marked a fresh closing high. The Nasdaq finished slightly lower yesterday.

The Nasdaq also reached an all-time intraday trading high today, when it touched 8,151.85 points earlier.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, was last trading just below the record it set Tuesday.
3:07 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

OPEC member: 'Not possible' for Iran's oil exports to go to zero

From CNN Business' Matt Egan and Zahraa Alkhalisi

The Trump administration's crackdown on Iran won't completely wipe out the nation's oil exports, according to Nigerian oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu.

"It's not possible," the OPEC member told CNN's John Defterios on Thursday.

The White House vowed this week to zero out Iran's oil exports by removing waivers that allowed some countries to keep buying crude from the sanctioned country.

Kachikwu said Iran would "sell oil somehow" to smaller third parties, though at lower volumes than today.

Facts Global Energy, a consulting firm, suggested in a report this week that Iran will smuggle out 200,000 to 300,000 barrels of rebranded oil per day through Iraq, Pakistan and perhaps Turkey.
"They will definitely sell oil," Kachikwu said.
The Nigerian oil minister said he wants to see OPEC and its allies extend their production agreement when the group meets in Vienna next month. However, he conceded that OPEC and its allies could decide to increase output.

Kachikwu lamented the fact that the world is now looking to OPEC to "pick up the can."

"OPEC is formed as a cartel to look at its members' interests," he said. "It's not, quite frankly, to concur to the needs of global world powers because we can't play that sort of game."
1:29 p.m. ET, April 25, 2019

S&P 500 and Nasdaq turn positive again

From CNN Business' Anneken Tappe
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have crept back into positive territory in the second half of the trading day.
The Dow, however, is still weaker and 3M (MMM) remains the culprit. Shares of the post-it maker are still down more than 12% after it posted troubling first quarter earnings.
In the S&P, Facebook (FB) is in the lead, followed by Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS). Both stocks are up nearly 6%.
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