Last week was dominated by fear of tariffs. Investors learned last weekend that President Trump announced that the U.S. will be implementing a 25% tariff on imported goods from Canada and Mexico (but only a 10% tariff on imported Canadian energy) and a 10% tariff on imported goods from China. He also indicated to the press that tariffs for the EU will likely be implemented fairly soon.
At the last minute, the leaders of Canada and Mexico were able to strike a deal with President Trump to postpone the implementation of tariffs for 30 days. Meanwhile, China said it will be imposing a 15% tariff on imports of coal and LNG from the U.S., and 10% tariffs on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and certain cars starting February 10. China also imposed further export restrictions on key minerals, such as tungsten, and said it will be starting an anti-monopoly investigation of Alphabet (GOOGL).
Although the market fluctuated as news of tariffs hit, overall investors viewed it as more of a temporary negotiating tactic than a permanent feature. The S&P 500 slid 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite logged a 0.5% decline.
It was another big week for earnings news with results from Alphabet (GOOG), which dropped 9.0%, and Amazon.com (AMZN), which dropped 3.6%, headlining the calendar. Other notable names included Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Qualcomm (QCOM), Spotify (SPOT), Dow component Merck (MRK), Estee Lauder (EL), and PepsiCo (PEP).