Stock Markets Tumble Amid Trade Policy Uncertainty
Today's S&P 500 Performance: Dip in Deckers Outdoor and Ross Stores Shares Due to Withheld Guidance from Both Companies
The S&P 500 suffered a 0.7% dip on Friday, May 23, 2025, as trade policy worries returned to the forefront before Memorial Day weekend. President Donald Trump renewed a tough stance on trade policy, targeting Apple and the European Union in a series of early morning social media posts.
On the last trading day of the week, major U.S. equities indexes recorded losses. The S&P 500 marked its fourth consecutive negative session, declining 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, while the NASDAQ Composite dropped 1.0%.
Deckers Outdoor, a company known for its footwear brands like UGG and Teva, plummeted 20% and was the worst-performing stock of the S&P 500. The company refrained from offering full-year guidance for fiscal 2026 due to uncertainties related to tariffs and trade policy. Deckers has a sizable manufacturing presence in China, and its near-term net sales projection for the fiscal first quarter fell below consensus estimates.
Shares of Workday, a cloud-based enterprise software provider, dropped approximately 13% due to a lackluster subscription revenue outlook. Despite exceeding sales and profit estimates, Workday predicted a softening in spending on its human capital management software by enterprise clients. Analysts also pointed to potential pricing pressure in the face of intensifying competition in human resources and financial management software.
Retailer Ross Stores also shelved its full-year guidance, citing uncertainties about tariffs and their potential impact on business. Ross Stores' CEO indicated that while direct imports account for a limited portion of its merchandise, over half of the merchandise sold at Ross originates in China, so higher tariffs could harm profitability. Ross shares plunged 9.8% on Friday.
Tax and accounting software firm Intuit secured the top daily performance in the S&P 500, surging 8.1%. Intuit, the owner of TurboTax and Credit Karma, exceeded sales and profit projections for its fiscal third quarter and raised its full-year forecasts above consensus expectations. Analysts lauded the performance, with several firms increasing their price targets on the stock. Intuit may also benefit from the possible elimination of the free IRS direct tax filing system under the budget proposal passed by the House this week.
In the realm of renewable energy, shares of solar technology firm Enphase Energy bounced 4.3% and shares of AES Corp., a utility focused on generating power from renewable sources, climbed 3.7%, following a partial recovery on Friday.
CrowdStrike shares advanced 2.6% to reach a record-high close. The cybersecurity firm attributed its gains to recognition for the outstanding performance of its identity theft protection and response capabilities. Earlier in the week, CrowdStrike announced its integration into enterprise AI ecosystems powered by Nvidia's Blackwell infrastructure, utilizing CrowdStrike's own AI tools to address vulnerabilities inherent to AI operations.
J.P. Morgan Research suggests that the S&P 500 levels will remain range-bound, between 5,200 and 5,800, due to mixed messages regarding trade negotiations and ongoing risks of recession. The impact on specific stocks varies, with certain businesses facing challenges in the face of potential tariffs and supply chain disruptions.
- The volatile state of trade policies could potentially impact even the cybersecurity sector, as businesses secure their digital infrastructure against threats, such as the recent gains in CrowdStrike's shares being attributed to its identity theft protection and response capabilities.
- In the world of finance, some companies have had to reassess their guidance due to trade uncertainties, like Deckers Outdoor, which refrained from providing full-year guidance for fiscal 2026, or Ross Stores, which shelved its full-year guidance due to potential tariff implications.
- As trade policy tensions linger, initial coin offerings (ICOs) might encounter a challenging environment for fundraising, with investors adopting a more cautious approach and companies relying on traditional finance methods like equities trading.
