Stock market today: S&P 500 clinches first record close of 2025, Dow pops after Trump takes spotlight at Davos

It was a winning day on Wall Street as investors digested remarks from President Donald Trump, who addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) jumped over 0.5% to secure its first all-time closing high of 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) popped around 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) recovered from earlier session losses to finish the day up about 0.2%.

Earlier on Thursday, the president said he will “demand that interest rates drop immediately.” He also said he will ask OPEC to bring down the price of oil.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) announced Thursday it’s promoting the head of its Medicare health plan business to take over the company’s top insurance job, previously held by slain executive Brian Thompson.

According to UNH, Tim Noel will now lead the company’s broader insurance division. He first joined the company in 2007.

Noel “brings unparalleled experience to this role with a proven track record and strong commitment to improving how health care works for consumers, physicians, employers, governments and our other partners,” UNH said in a statement.

Thompson was killed outside of an investor day meeting in New York City on Dec. 4. Luigi Mangione was arrested for the murder days after the attack.

Shares were up over 1% in late afternoon trading on the heels of the announcement.

Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:

President Donald Trump confronted Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan Thursday over a claim gaining traction in conservative circles: that customers are being ‘de-banked’ for their personal beliefs.

“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank, and that included a place called Bank of America,” Trump told Moynihan during a virtual question-and-answer session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The president also appeared to include JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon in his confrontation. JPMorgan and Bank of America are the nation’s two largest banks.

“I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody else, I hope you open your banks to conservatives because what you’re doing is wrong,” Trump added.

Read more here.

CNN is laying off 6% of its workforce, or roughly 200 staffers, as the cable network aims to transform its newsroom into a digital-first operation.

CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) plans to invest $70 million into the network’s revamp, which includes a new direct-to-consumer streaming product and a focus on premium digital ad experiences. CNN also plans to refresh its website, undergo a major pivot into digital video, and launch a first-of-its-kind lifestyle-oriented digital product.

CNN CEO Mark Thompson said in a staff memo obtained by Yahoo Finance that jobs will be added as part of the effort and that despite the job cuts, the network doesn’t expect headcount to decline much this year.

“Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN’s gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting and, by doing that, to secure CNN’s future as one of the world’s greatest news organizations,” Thompson said.

Shares of WBD were little changed on the news. Read more here.

These were the biggest movers on Yahoo Finance’s trending tickers page on Thursday.

Electronic Arts (EA)

Electronic Arts stock tumbled more than 15% on Thursday after the game publisher said quarterly bookings fell to roughly $2.22 billion, missing analyst expectations.

GE Aerospace (GE)

Shares of the jet engine maker jumped nearly 7% on Thursday after the company exceeded fourth quarter estimates on both revenue and earnings.

GE Aerospace also gave an optimistic outlook for the full year 2025 and announced a $7 billion stock buyback program.

American Airlines (AAL)

American Airlines stock tumbled after forecasting a surprise loss for the first quarter. The air carrier projects an adjusted loss of as much as $0.40 a share for the current quarter. Analysts were expecting a profit of at least $0.01, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

American Airlines posted record fourth quarter revenue of $13.7 billion and record full-year revenue of $54.2 billion.

Deals to purchase a home fell through at a record rate in December as high mortgage rates and housing costs caused buyers to lose faith.

Nearly 40,000 home purchase agreements were canceled in December, equal to 16.2% of homes that went under contract that month — the highest percentage of any December on record, according to Redfin.

House hunters are having trouble committing because housing costs remain expensive. According to Freddie Mac, mortgage rates have moved higher over the past six weeks, but this week the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell 8 basis points to 6.96% from 7.04%.

“Homebuyers pumped the brakes when mortgage rates ticked back up, and are now in wait-and-see mode,” Jesse Landin, a Redfin real estate agent in San Antonio, said in the Redfin report. “Everyone is just trying to figure out when rates are going to come down again. In the meantime, a lot of house hunters are opting to rent.”

Buyer appetite “will likely slow further in January due to the wildfires impacting Los Angeles — the nation’s second most populous metro area — and winter storms impacting the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast,” Redfin senior economist Elijah de la Campa said in the report.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) traded higher on Thursday following President Trump’s remote comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The broad based index gained more than 0.1%, a stone’s throw away from an intraday record. Meanwhile the Dow gained as much as 0.6%, led by Industrials (XLI).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC), which opened the session lower, fell 0.3%. Yields on the 10-year Treasury (^TNX) also inched up to 4.65%.

During his remarks via video at Davos, the president said he will ask OPEC to lower the price of oil and warned companies that if they don’t manufacture in the US, they will have to pay a tariff.

“If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts, but a tariff.”

The president did not mention tariffs specifically against China, a major manufacturer of goods sold in the US.

President Trump said he will ask the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, to bring down the price of oil.

“I’m also going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil. You’ve got to bring it down,” said Trump during his remote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue, you’ve got to bring down the oil price. You’ve got to end that war,” he said.

Russia, a major producer of oil and gas, is an OPEC ally. The cartel currently has production cuts in place in order to keep a floor on prices.

Both West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) and Brent (BZ=F) fell roughly 1% following Trump’s comments.

President Trump said he will demand that interest rates drop in the US.

“I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us,” Trump said remotely at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved to a session high, up 0.5% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell slightly.

President Trump spoke remotely at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, appearing via video to a packed room of CEOs and world officials.

The president first listed a series of actions he took upon entering the White House, including withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and declaring a national energy emergency.

On the topic of tariffs, the president said, “My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth.”

“But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff — differing amounts, but a tariff.”

Attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos are waiting for President Trump’s special address via video.

Investors watching the remote speech will pay attention to any talk about the president’s tariff policy.

President Trump will also take questions after his remarks.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose after Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said in a post on X that she will chair the Senate Banking Subcommittee on digital assets.

The token moved up to about $105,000 at around 10:50 a.m. ET.

Earlier this week, Lummis said she spoke with Eric Trump about the possibility of creating a strategic bitcoin reserve at the inaugural lunch on Monday.

Late last year, she introduced a proposal that would give the Federal Reserve the right to own the cryptocurrency.

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

Chip stocks fell across the board early on Thursday after a Nvidia (NVDA) supplier made comments on its earnings call that indicated uncertainty about semiconductor demand this year.

South Korea-based SK Hynix (000660.KS) makes memory chips for Nvidia’s GPUs (graphics processing units), which are used in data centers to underpin artificial intelligence software.

After SK Hynix reported fourth quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations, its head of finance, Woo-Hyun Kim, painted a careful picture of the year ahead.

“2025’s memory demand outlook is clouded by inventory adjustments from PC and smartphone OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] as well as strengthened protective trade policies and geopolitical risks,” Kim said on a post-earnings conference call.

Following the comments, Nvidia shares sank as much as 2%. British chip designer Arm’s (ARM) stock dropped nearly 6%, and SK Hynix rival Micron (MU) shares fell roughly 4%.

Read more here.

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports from Davos:

Up and down the promenade at the World Economic Forum this week, leaders agree on one thing about artificial intelligence: It’s darn powerful, and it’s starting to materially impact how business is done and will be done.

Think AI on the cusp of rendering human call centers and HR departments obsolete.

What leaders can’t agree on is whether AI is already out of control — whether it’s beyond the point of being successfully regulated or having the proper guardrails.

“I’m not sure it’s [AI] out of control. I think there are use cases that sometimes people want to showcase [for] … their own benefits, to see, hey, this is the potential. But the reality is that enterprises are very smart,” HPE CEO Antonio Neri told Yahoo Finance at the annual gathering of top business leaders.

Read more here.

American Airlines (AAL) stock fell nearly 8% after the carrier forecast a surprise loss for its first quarter. The outlook is a departure from the major air travel carriers’ bullish performance in recent quarters.

American expects an adjusted loss of as much as $0.40 a share for the current quarter. Analysts were expecting a profit of at least $0.01, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The airline posted record fourth quarter revenue of $13.7 billion and record full-year revenue of $54.2 billion.

The company’s profit for the current quarter is expected to be impacted by a rise in non-fuel expenses as it continues to win back business after changing its corporate sales strategy.

American had implemented changes that pushed corporate customers to book directly with the airline, instead of third-party travel managers.

Electronic Arts (EA) stock tumbled 15% on Thursday after the game publisher said quarterly bookings fell to roughly $2.22 billion, missing analyst expectations.

The decline was due to the poor performance of two of its video games: soccer title “EA Sports FC 2025” and “Dragon Age: The Veilguard.” Both of those missed bookings expectations.

The company cut its bookings outlook for the 2025 fiscal year to a range of $7 billion to $7.15 billion.

EA is expected to release its complete results on Feb. 4.

US stocks were mixed on Thursday, pulling back from near record levels as the markets awaited a speech from President Trump at the World Economic Forum.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) slipped roughly 0.2%, coming off a record intraday high on Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was little changed.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 0.5% as tech stocks struggled. Nvidia (NVDA) shares slipped, along with those of Apple (AAPL) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL).

Investors are still awaiting new developments on the tariff front. Trump is expected to remotely give an address to the WEF in Davos later in the day.

Economic data: Initial jobless claims (week ended Jan. 18); Kansas City Fed. Manufacturing Activity (January)

Earnings: American Airlines (AAL), Alaska Airlines (ALK), CSX Corporation (CSX), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), GE Aerospace (GE), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Texas Instruments (TXN), Union Pacific Corporation (UNP)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Trump’s new crypto token is the industry in its purest form

Why Trump is laser-focused on tariffs for Canada

Intel races to find next CEO before it sinks into irrelevance

Amazon to cut 1,700 jobs, close warehouses in Quebec

GE Aerospace posts earnings beat, plans $7B buyback

American Air stock drops as 2025 profit forecast falls short

Tesla to significantly hike prices for all models in Canada

Musk clashes with OpenAI’s Altman over ‘Stargate’