Earnings live: Wall Street banks forge ahead to kick off second quarter earnings season

ClaydenSci/Tech2025-07-176850

The second quarter earnings season is underway.

Quarterly reports from major US banks and financials rolled in on Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the unofficial start of the second quarter earnings season.

The biggest Wall Street banks saw a boost in trading and dealmaking revenue during the quarter, leading to better-than-expected results for JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), and Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of New York Mellon (BK), and BlackRock (BLK).

Wall Street firms also signaled that they are moving ahead with dealmaking despite risks from President Trump's tariffs.

"Boardrooms appear more accepting of ongoing uncertainty broadly," Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO Ted Pick said Wednesday.

Despite momentum, though, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon cautioned that "significant risks persist, including from tariffs and trade uncertainty, worsening geopolitical conditions, high fiscal deficits and elevated asset prices."

ASML (ASML) also saw clouds on the horizon when reporting quarterly results on Wednesday. The manufacturer of advanced chipmaking equipment warned that sales could fall in 2026 due to global uncertainty and trade disputes.

In the weeks ahead, investors will look for additional clues about the health of the US economy and any negative impacts from Trump's tariffs.

Data from FactSet published earlier this month showed analysts expect S&P 500 companies to report a 5% jump in earnings per share during the second quarter, which would mark the slowest pace of earnings growth since the fourth quarter of 2023.

Through Friday, with 4% of the index having reported results, second quarter earnings growth was tracking to 4.8%.

Additional companies reporting earnings this week include Netflix (NFLX), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), and PepsiCo (PEP) on Thursday, and 3M (MMM), American Express (AXP), and Charles Schwab (SCHW) on Friday.

LIVE 20 updates

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 8:55 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
United Airlines posts better-than-expected earnings, trims profit outlook

United Airlines (UAL) reported mixed results on Wednesday but said it sees a "positive inflection" through the rest of the year.

Adjusted earnings for the second quarter were $3.87 per share, above expectations for $3.84, on revenue of $15.24 billion, a slight miss versus expectations for $15.33 billion.

The air carrier now sees full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance in the range of $9 to $11. As of Wednesday, analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $9.92 on average for the year, per Bloomberg. For the third quarter, United forecast that adjusted profits would come in between $2.25 and $2.75 a share.

Both outlooks were below United's previous guidance for the year. In the first quarter, United maintained its full-year forecast for adjusted earnings per share of $11.50 to $13.50 but offered a second forecast should the US fall into recession.

Shares fell 1.5% in after-hours trading. United stock surged 13% last Thursday on the heels of Delta's (DAL) report.

Read more here.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Stocks endured a wild ride in the second quarter. It was great news for big banks.

Markets were highly volatile in the second quarter, with President Trump's tariff announcements and geopolitical events such as the Israel-Iran war leading to major S&P 500 swings.

But this week's bank earnings show that volatility made it a good time to be a stock trader at a major bank. Yahoo Finance's Jake Conley reports:

Read more here.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 4:35 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Progressive stock rises on earnings beat

Progressive (PGR) stock gained roughly 2% in midday trading on Wednesday after the insurance company reported year-over-year sales growth of 15.7%, amounting to $20.99 billion.

Earnings came in at $5.40 per share, 14.8% above analysts’ estimates.

Read more here.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
J.B. Hunt exec highlights 'very dynamic forecasting challenge' amid tariffs

In an earnings call on Tuesday, J.B. Hunt (JBHT) executive vice president Spencer Frazier highlighted that it continues to be challenging to forecast demand this year amid trade policy disruptions.

“Some [customers] stayed the course,” Frazier said about the clients’ behavior in the second quarter. “Some paused certain items. Some pulled inventory forward.”

“Really, all of them, longer-term, are considering their sourcing strategies,” he added, “and that makes for a very dynamic forecasting challenge for them and for us.”

The Arkansas-based surface transport and freight company reported earnings per share of $1.31 for the second quarter that were largely in line with analysts’ expectations. Its revenue of $2.93 billion was flat year over year.

Frazier said that the company started its peak season surcharge program earlier this year due to the uncertainty and volatility. In the second quarter, he noted that overall customer demand trended modestly below normal seasonality.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 12:18 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
ASML shares slump after chipmaking linchpin warns on growth

ASML (ASML, ASML.AS) shares fell almost 8% in premarket trading after the Dutch firm warned sales may fall next year and said it may not achieve growth in 2026.

The warning came even as the world's biggest supplier of chipmaking gear's second quarter bookings topped Wall Street estimates on Wednesday.

“We continue to see increasing uncertainty driven by macro-economic and geopolitical developments,” ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said in a statement on ASML’s quarterly results Wednesday. “Therefore, while we still prepare for growth in 2026, we cannot confirm it at this stage.”

Bloomberg reports:

Read more here.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 12:11 PM UTC Brett LoGiurato
Morgan Stanley profit rises as traders ride market turmoil

Reuters reports:

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Wed, July 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Bank of America profit beats estimates as traders get boost from market turmoil

Reuters reports:

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Wed, July 16, 2025 at 12:07 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Johnson & Johnson beats on earnings, raises outlook

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported second quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates Wednesday due to strong demand for its cancer drug, Darzalex, and strength in its medical device business.

The company reported revenue of $23.7 billion, versus the $22.8 billion estimated by Wall Street analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Earnings per share came in at $2.77, versus estimates of $2.66.

Johnson & Johnson raised its full-year sales outlook to a range of $93.2 billion to $93.6 billion, boosting shares by 1.7% in premarket trading.

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani reports:

Read more here.

Wed, July 16, 2025 at 11:48 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Trading and dealmaking boosted Goldman profits as Wall Street overcame Trump tariff chaos

Goldman Sachs (GS) joined JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Citigroup (C) in reporting higher dealmaking and trading revenue for the second quarter.

Though dealmaking halted following President Trump's April 2 tariff announcement, bankers saw momentum pick up following the tariff pause and as Trump began to loosen some supervisory rules.

Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports:

Read more here.

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 6:27 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Big banks say the US consumer 'basically seems to be fine'

Yahoo Finance's Jake Conley reports:

Read more here.

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Albertsons raises annual sales forecast but leaves profit outlook unchanged

Albertsons stock (ACI) fell 4% at the market open after the grocer kept its full-year adjusted profit outlook the same, despite beating earnings estimates and raising its annual sales forecast.

Grocers like Albertsons have benefited from consumers' shift to value and continued spending on necessities despite inflationary pressures.

Per Reuters, Albertsons posted quarterly sales of $24.88 billion, just ahead of the average analyst estimate of $24.73 billion, as surveyed by LSEG. Same-store sales for the quarter ended June 14 rose 2.8%, compared to a 1.4% increase a year ago, driven by strong growth in pharmacy sales.

For the full year, the company raised its outlook for same-store sales. It now sees sales growth of 2% to 2.75%, up from its prior forecast of 1.5% to 2.5%.

Its quarterly adjusted net income per share of $0.55 beat estimates of $0.53.

Read more here.

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 1:22 PM UTC Grace O'Donnell
Wells Fargo profit beats estimates, cut to interest income forecast weighs on shares

Reuters reports:

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Tue, July 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM UTC Brian Sozzi
Jamie Dimon on the stock market

I asked JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon on a media call this morning why he thinks elevated asset prices are a "significant" risk.

What he told me:

"Look at it the other way around, Brian — what if they were not elevated? I just see, you know, [asset prices] are fairly well priced in the top 10% or 15%, however you measure them. And then credit spreads are also, in my view, a little unnaturally low with all the potential exposures out there. And so the world is kind of pricing in a soft landing. And we've been in that soft landing very well."

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 12:16 PM UTC Brian Sozzi
Jamie Dimon discusses Fed independence

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon weighed in on the Fed on a media call this morning:

"What I've seen the president say [is] he's not going to try to remove Jay Powell," Dimon said. "I think the independence of the Fed is absolutely critical, and not just for the current Fed chairman, who I respect, Jay Powell, but the next Fed chairman."

Read more about the pressure on Fed Chair Powell

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM UTC Grace O'Donnell
JPMorgan gets a dealmaking boost as Wall Street recovered from tariff tumult

JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) second quarter results came in better than expected on Tuesday, though shares in the bank were lower by less than 1% in premarket trading.

Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith reports:

Read more here.

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 11:52 AM UTC Brian Sozzi
BNY CEO to Yahoo Finance on market turnaround

I caught up with BNY (BNY) CEO Robin Vince by video call after the company's solid second quarter this morning.

I asked him why he thinks market sentiment has turned so positive so fast:

“Remember where we were in January with the sort of US exceptionalism trade and sentiment, peak pessimism on Europe, and then we probably reversed that psychology in a lot of people quickly over the course of April and into May. But the fundamentals of the performance of the US economy really never went away.”

He added, “We have industry leading companies here in the United States… I think it is something that people are coming back to, maybe have forgotten for two or three months in the middle there.”

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 11:22 AM UTC Brian Sozzi
Wells Fargo remains a laggard

Wells Fargo (WFC) did everything you don't want to see from a company in a market trading near records.

It slashed its full-year net interest income guidance.

The second quarter underperformed JPMorgan's (JPM) in key areas like trading and banking.

The fact remains that Wells Fargo is an also-ran.

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 11:19 AM UTC Brian Sozzi
JPMorgan earnings, one call out

Interesting to see JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon call out "elevated asset prices" as a "significant" risk moving forward in his prepared remarks. Did Dimon just call a market top?

Tue, July 15, 2025 at 10:55 AM UTC Karen Friar
BlackRock assets hit record, top $12 trillion amid tariff upheaval

BlackRock's (BLK) assets under management surged to top $12 trillion in the second quarter, the first money manager to pass that milestone.

Adjusted quarterly profit came in at $1.88 billion, or $12.05 per share, up from $1.55 billion, or $10.36 per share, a year earlier. That compares with an average estimate for $10.78 a share, per a FactSet survey of analysts.

Shares in BlackRock slipped 2% in premarket trading as investors parsed its results.

Reuters reports:

Read more here.

Mon, July 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM UTC Myles Udland
Big banks hope to put 'Liberation Day' turmoil behind them

Major US banks including JPMorgan (JPM), Citi (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC) are set to report earnings on Tuesday morning, and Yahoo Finance's David Hollerith notes this set of results will be all about showing the gloom that hit the sector in early April is firmly in the rearview.

Successful IPOs during the quarter, most notably from Circle (CRCL), should offer hope that the investment banking pipeline built momentum during the quarter, while the M&A market has shown some signs of life in recent months.

Still, as David notes, a few analysts on the Street have been cautious on the big banks ahead of these results, as shares of many financial names have run higher since President Trump's mid-April pivot.

Read more here.