Stocks ticked slightly higher on Friday, as the S&P 500 Index snapped a four week losing streak amid increased recession fears and trade policy concerns. The broader market index rose 0.08% just before market close, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 30 points and the Nasdaq Composite advanced more than 0.5%.
Here's how the market settled to close out the week:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
The S&P 500 managed to stave off a loss this week, rising 0.5%, as it continues to recover from correction territory, which is defined as falling at least 10% below its recent high. The Nasdaq also rose 0.2% for the week, while the Dow posted a 1.2% gain.
Investors are looking ahead towards what President Donald Trump is calling "Liberation Day," which is the next major deadline for the administration's trade policy on April 2. Trump on Friday said there will be "flexibility" on his reciprocal tariff plan for major trading partners.
"People are coming to me and talking about tariffs, and a lot of people are asking me if they could have exceptions," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "And once you do that for one, you have to do that for all ... the word flexibility is an important word. Sometimes it's flexibility. So there'll be flexibility, but basically it's reciprocal."
New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said Friday that the uncertainty of the U.S. economic outlook is expected to impact growth this year as the central bank grapples with many unknowns surrounding Trump's trade and immigration policies.
"It's hard to know with any precision how the economy will evolve," Williams said in a speech at the Macroeconometric Caribbean Conference in the Bahamas. "Uncertainty is high, and there are many scenarios that could play out, depending on fiscal and trade policies and geopolitical and other developments."
On the Earnings Front:
FedEx
The company lowered its full-year adjusted profit forecast to a range of $18 to $18.60 per share, down from its initial target range of $20 to $22 per share. FedEx also expects full-year revenue to be flat to slightly down year-over-year, compared to its prior forecast for it to be flat.
"Our revised earnings outlook reflects continued weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy, which is constraining demand for our business-to-business services," Chief Finance Officer John Dietrich said in a statement.
Nike
Chief Finance Officer Matt Friend told investors during the company's earnings call that the athletic apparel brand plans to increase its efforts to liquidate excess inventory and discontinue less popular styles into fiscal 2026.
"We believe that the fourth quarter will reflect the largest impact from our [turnaround effort], and that the headwinds to revenue and gross margin will begin to moderate from there," Friend told analysts. "We are also navigating through several external factors that create uncertainty in the current operating environment, including geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs, volatile foreign exchange rates and tax regulations, as well as the impact of this uncertainty and other macro factors on consumer confidence."
