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Live Markets: Dow Spirals 400 Points on WMT, AAPL and BABA Rise
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AMZN and BRK-B Reach Milestones
The markets remain under pressure, the worst of which is being reflected in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is reeling by 500 points. While the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are also lower, their declines are much more moderate.
Walmart is to blame on its disappointing forecast, but to be fair, it is a challenging barometer for consumer confidence. On the one hand, a stronger sales forecast would suggest consumers are in need of a discount, while a weaker revenue outlook suggests consumers are feeling the pain from the geopolitical tensions, including tariffs, and elevated interest rates.
With Walmart currently in the crosshairs, Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has risen to the occasion, with its quarterly revenue surpassing that of Walmart for the first time in over a decade. Amazon’s Q4 revenue came in at $187.8 billion compared with Walmart’s $180.5 billion result. It means Amazon has muscled Walmart out of the top spot as the world’s biggest company based on revenue.
As companies jockey for position in the biggest companies by market cap rankings, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) has made its way into the top 10, replacing Taiwan Semi (NYSE: TSM), which fell to the No. 11 spot. Berkshire’s market cap has crossed $1.039 trillion compared with TSM’s $1.037 trillion.
Dividend Stocks
In this time of market uncertainty, here’s a look at some companies that tend to pay high dividend’s compared with the S&P 500’s average dividend yield of 1.27% at last check.
Altria (NYSE: MO) has a high dividend yield of 7.7%
AT&T (NYSE: T) pays a dividend yield of 4.5%
Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) pays a dividend yield of 5.5%
Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG) pays a dividend yield of 4.6%
Today’s market has turned decidedly negative as soured sentiment in the Dow Jones Industrial Average spills over, spoiling the S&P 500’s record run. The Dow is spiraling by 500 points and is being pressured by retailer Walmart (NYSE: WMT), whose earnings results confirmed tariff-related fears. Among the few technology gainers are Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA) and Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) as of early trading. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is among the rare gainers in the Dow today.
Walmart warned that its profit growth is expected to slow down amid the company’s vulnerability to the likely Mexico and Canada tariffs. Walmart’s stock is down over 6% despite beating consensus estimates on the top and bottom lines in its fiscal Q4 as Wall Street focuses on an uncertain future. Nevertheless, TD Cowen analyst Oliver Chen told Yahoo Finance that Walmart is “hitting on all cylinders” for now, pointing to a resilient consumer that continues to drive revenue.
Here’s a look at the performance as of morning trading:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down 502.74 (-1.13)
Nasdaq Composite: -165.58 (-0.80%)
S&P 500: Down 44.26 (-0.72%)
Key Points
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average is spiraling by 500 points.
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Alibaba shares are soaring after a blowout quarterly earnings report.
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Big Tech stocks are mixed.
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Palantir is sinking on fears of U.S. defense budget cuts.
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Market Movers
Alibaba is boosting tech sentiment today, rising 11.7% on the heels of its fiscal Q3 earnings report, which executives attributed “robust” AI momentum . The company’s results were driven by cloud technology as well as AI-product revenue, both of which have been soaring. Alibaba is also receiving tailwind’s from China’s competitive AI investments, including DeepSeek, as a result of which BABA stock has skyrocketed 50% so far in 2025.
Palantir Technologies (Nasdaq: PLTR) is giving up some of its recent gains, falling below the psychologically sensitive $100 level today amid a 13% drop in the stock. The Trump Administration is defense budget cuts, the industry for which Palantir creates AI-powered software solutions.
Toy company Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is among the winners in today’s session, gaining 11% on the heels of a quarterly earnings and revenue beat. Hasbro has also launched a new line of PLAY-DOH Barbie dolls in a licensing partnership with Mattel that is set to hit the store shelves at Target (NYSE: TGT).
Apple shares are posting fractional gains a day after introducing the lower-priced iPhone 16. Citi analysts expect this model will represent 10% of the company’s units sold in 2025.
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