Declines on Wall Street; Tesla down 4%, IBM down 7%

16:45

stock Tesla is falling today after Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, asks investors for “patience” in connection with the company’s heavy investments in the fields of autonomous driving and humanoid robots – fields that do not yet generate significant revenues.

Tesla has revised upward its 2026 capital investment (CapEx) plan to more than $25 billion, nearly three times the $8.53 billion it spent last year, and also above the previous forecast of about $20 billion.

At the same time, the company expects a negative free cash flow later this year, after recording a surprising surplus of $1.44 billion during the first quarter.

This raises a key question for investors: can the increase in Tesla’s expenses be justified, when it does not yet have stable profit engines with high profit margins, as other large technology companies have, which enable them to finance large investments.

16:30

Wall Street opened lower after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices hit new highs yesterday. S&P 500 down 0.2%, Nasdaq down 0.3%, Dow Jones down 0.5%.

Among the prominent stocks, IBM andNow service which decrease by approximately 7% and 13% respectively after the publication of the reports.

After withdrawing from its $72 billion acquisition bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and the HBO Max service, Netflix invests more in herself.

The streaming giant increased its stock buyback program by a whopping $25 billion. This is in addition to the $6.8 billion worth of shares it already plans to purchase as part of existing purchase plans that are underway.

Yesterday, the main indexes closed at new highs, after US President Donald Trump announced the extension of the ceasefire with Iran. The S&P 500 index rose by 1.05% and the Nasdaq by 1.64%, while the Dow Jones added 340.65 points, or 0.69%. Trump noted that the extension was required due to the fact that Iran’s government is “severely divided”.

However, geopolitical tensions in the region are still high. According to reports, a lack of commitment on the part of Iran led Vice President JD Vance to postpone his trip to the peace talks, and Iran even announced that its representatives would not attend, calling the talks with the US “a waste of time”. In addition, the Iranian Navy announced that it had seized two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The mood in the markets is also supported by a strong report season: of the 87 companies in the S&P 500 index that have reported so far, 81% have exceeded profit forecasts and 76% have surprised positively in the revenue line as well.

At the same time, labor market data indicated a slight increase in initial unemployment claims. The number of new claims was 214,000 in the week that ended on April 18 – an increase of 6,000 compared to the previous week and slightly above the forecasts of 210,000. The number of ongoing claims rose to 1.82 million.

14:25

Trade in Europe continues to be conducted in a mixed trend. The Dax index falls by about 0.5%, the Potsi index weakens by about 0.8% and the CAC advances by about 0.2%.

At the same time, trading in the futures contracts on Wall Street continues to be conducted with falling rates. For now, the Dow Jones is expected to open the day down 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, which broke new highs on the previous trading day, are expected to weaken by about 0.4%.

11:50

Oil prices continue to climb at this time, with Brent oil trading above the $100 per barrel mark, around $103. US crude is trading around $94 per barrel.

Patty Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), told CNBC today that the current energy shock is “the greatest energy security threat in history.” According to him, as of today, the oil market has lost 13 million barrels per day, when there are significant disruptions in essential goods. “I predict, first of all, that nuclear energy will get a boost… renewable energies will grow strongly – solar energy, wind energy and others – and I expect electric cars to benefit from this,” he noted. Birol also added that alternative fossil fuels may also make a comeback. “In some countries, I anticipate that coal may also get a boost and go back up, especially in some large Asian countries,” he said.

10:15

European stock markets open the day with a mixed trend, against the background of increased tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the increase in oil prices. The Frankfurt Stock Exchange falls by about 0.4%, the London Stock Exchange weakens by about 0.5% and the Paris Stock Exchange advances by about 0.3%.

9:15

The declines in Asia moderated. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is now down about 0.5%, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is losing about 0.9%, the Shanghai Stock Exchange is weakening by about 0.4% and the Seoul Stock Exchange is climbing about 0.6%.

The declines come amid reports that the US has stopped at least three Iranian oil tankers in the territorial waters of Asia, and redirected them away from the areas of India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka – sources in the shipping and security fields said on Wednesday. These reports followed the Iranian Navy’s announcement that it had seized two container ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

6:40

Trading on the Asian stock exchanges is being conducted this morning with prices falling, this after earlier during the trading day, the stock indices in Japan and South Korea soared and reached all-time highs.

In Japan, the Nikkei index, which is now down about 1.4%, briefly touched an all-time high when it crossed the 60,013.98 point mark, and then retreated. The Softbank share, one of the index’s main heavyweights, jumped earlier by more than 6%. At this time it is increasing by about 5.8%. According to a report in Bloomberg, the company is increasing its debts as part of its efforts in the field of artificial intelligence, and is requesting a margin loan of $10 billion backed by its holdings in OpenAI.

The South Korean Kospi index also reached an all-time high during trading, rising by 1.58% to a level of 6,538.72 points. As of now, the index has moved into a negative trend and is losing about 1.3% of its value. stock Samsung Electronics It set a new record during trading, and is still up 0.8%.

Also in Asia, the Heng Seng index falls by 1.1%, the Shenzhen falls by about 1.5%, and the Shanghai index falls by about 0.7%.

Last night on Wall Street, against the background of the extension of the cease-fire with Iran, the S&P 500 increased by about 1%, the technology-biased Nasdaq jumped by about 1.6% and the industrial-biased Dow Jones climbed by about 0.7%. Thus, in fact, the Nasdaq completed an increase of over 18% since the beginning of April, and the S&P 500 rose by more than 12%, both trading at record levels. But not only the Middle East is responsible for the highs on Wall Street, but also the report season.

According to FactSet data, more than 80% of the companies in the S&P 500 index beat early forecasts. One of them is Boeing the maker of F35 aircraft which rose 5% after reporting a smaller than expected loss. “It’s time to put it in the rearview mirror,” an analyst told CNBC regarding the effects of the Iran war on the markets. “You have to stay on track.” He estimated that the American stock market would provide an excess return on other international markets.

When it comes to the tech giants, investors seem to expect greatness. After a shaky start to the year, in the last month it seems that the “Magnificent Seven” (Nvidia , Alphabetical , dark , Microsoft , Amazon , Meta andTesla ) are gaining momentum and the ETF that follows them (MAGS) rose by almost 14%. In fact, it seems that a value of 4 trillion dollars, which until a year ago seemed imaginary, has become a standard among the prestigious group of stocks, with four of them crossing this threshold in the past – Nvidia, Google, Apple and Microsoft – and except for Microsoft, all of them also maintained it. Nvidia, by the way, is no longer very far from a value of 5 trillion, when it is currently traded at a value of 4.92 trillion dollars.

The chip stock’s gains stood out ARM with a jump of almost 11% and a share Micron with a jump of more than 8%. Both, along with the giants of the sector, like Broadcom and-TSMC jumped the stock index SOXX (Philadelphia Chip Index) by more than 2.5% and pushed it to a record, during a streak of 16 days of gains – the longest in history.

Tesla reports were released Wednesday night. The company beat forecasts, with earnings of 41 cents per share versus expectations of 36 cents and revenue of $22.39 billion versus expectations of 22.28. The stock jumped more than 3% in late trading. Tesla arrives at these reports in an unwarranted state, after the stock has lost about 20% from its peak and since the beginning of the year has fallen by almost 12%. And investors expect it to return its almost unimaginable pricing. At a forward earnings multiple of 183, it is the third most expensive stock in the S&P 500, after Warner Bros andBoeing . For comparison, Bloomberg’s “Magnificent Seven” index is priced at a future earnings multiple of about 27, a figure considered high only because Tesla is an extreme outlier compared to the other six technology giants.

Today after the close of trading on Wall Street, Intel which earlier this month posted its longest winning streak since the 1970s, will release its financial results. According to FactSet, Intel is expected to report a loss of 14 cents per share, compared to a loss of 19 cents last year. In the adjusted profit line, excluding certain one-time items, the profit is expected to be 2 cents per share, compared to 13 cents per share in the corresponding quarter last year. The company is expected to report sales of $12.41 billion, compared to $12.67 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.

Oil prices are registering increases this morning: Brent oil added 1.7% to its value and its price is $103 per barrel; The price of a barrel of American oil increases by about 2%, and stands at 94.8 dollars.