U.S. stock market outlook | All three major stock index futures rose, and Tesla released its financial report after the market closed.

1. On April 22 (Tuesday), U.S. stock index futures rose across the board before the market opened. As of the time of writing, Dow futures were up 0.81%, S&P 500 futures were up 0.79%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.89%.

1. As of the time of writing, the German DAX index was down 0.51%, the UK FTSE 100 index was down 0.34%, the French CAC40 index was down 0.10%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index was down 0.30%.

1. As of the time of writing, WTI crude oil was up 1.54%, priced at $63.37 per barrel. Brent crude oil was up 1.45%, priced at $67.22 per barrel.

Market News

It is reported that Trump is considering lowering U.S. drug prices to international levels. According to two pharmaceutical company insiders, drug manufacturers have been warned that the Trump administration is considering linking U.S. drug prices to the lower amounts paid by other developed countries, which is a primary concern for the pharmaceutical industry. The insiders indicated that they expect this policy to come from the agency regulating Medicare and Medicaid programs. The first insider said that government health officials directly told him they are studying such a policy, which he described as a mid-level priority for the Trump administration's efforts to lower drug prices. The two insiders stated that such policies would have a greater impact on the pharmaceutical industry compared to other government initiatives currently under discussion. The first insider described this as "the greatest survival threat to the industry and U.S. bioscience innovation."

Tariffs as high as 3521%! The U.S. takes strong action against solar products from Southeast Asia. The U.S. has imposed new tariffs of up to 3521% on solar products from four Southeast Asian countries. This move is a victory for domestic manufacturers in the U.S., but it also poses greater obstacles to the development of renewable energy in the country. The announced tariffs are the final result of a year-long trade investigation. The investigation found that solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand gained an unfair advantage by receiving government subsidies and exported products to the U.S. at prices below production costs. This investigation was initiated by domestic solar manufacturers and launched during the administration of former President Joe Biden. These new tariffs are an addition to the extensive tariffs previously implemented under President Donald Trump, which had already disrupted global supply chains and markets Tech Giants' Earnings Reports Are Coming! Revealing That U.S. Stocks Have "Bottomed Out," or Indicating a Larger Decline? This week, over a hundred companies in the S&P 500 index are set to announce their first-quarter earnings reports. Against the backdrop of constantly changing policies under the Trump administration, investors will closely monitor the performance outlook of various companies. Among them, tech stocks have become the focus. In the market downturn triggered by tariffs, tech stocks led the market decline, with the stock prices of the "seven giants" down 23% or more from their recent 52-week highs. Given that the market has significantly declined over the past month, several Wall Street strategists have pointed out that observing the stock price reactions the day after the earnings reports of large companies will be a key signal in determining whether the market has bottomed out. Citigroup equity strategist Cronart wrote in a report to clients before the earnings season: "The importance of the first-quarter earnings season lies in the fact that when corporate management begins to interpret the impact of tariffs, it allows us to see what information has already been reflected in individual stock prices."

Individual Stock News

Business aviation demand will overcome tariff concerns, GE Aviation (GE.US) maintains its full-year financial guidance unchanged. Despite the general uncertainty brought by the Trump tariff war to American businesses, GE Aviation (GE.US) has maintained its full-year financial guidance unchanged, and its first-quarter profit performance exceeded market expectations. The earnings report showed first-quarter revenue of $9 billion, which fell short of market expectations; the non-GAAP earnings per share were $1.49, higher than the expected $1.27. The world's largest jet engine manufacturer stated on Tuesday that demand in the commercial aviation sector and cost control measures helped it cope with the current turbulent environment, maintaining its expectations for profit and revenue growth for the full year.

"Tesla (TSLA.US) Q1 Earnings Preview: Global Sales Down 13%, Performance May Decline? Barclays Calls for 'Sell'." On April 22, before the U.S. stock market opened, Tesla rose 0.73% and is set to announce its Q1 2025 earnings report after the market closes. According to InvestingPro's forecast, Tesla's earnings per share for the first quarter are expected to decline by 6.6% year-on-year to $0.42, with revenue expected to grow by 0.5% year-on-year to $21.413 billion. Previously, Tesla reported delivering 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter, a 13% decrease from the same period last year. Tesla is facing increasing pressure in the Chinese market, with data from the China Passenger Car Association showing that Tesla's wholesale sales in China fell by 21.8% year-on-year in Q1 2025. To address the decline in sales in China, Barclays recently maintained a "sell" rating on Tesla and lowered its target price from $325 to $275, citing "weak fundamentals and a chaotic outlook" for the first quarter.

Another Monopoly Evidence? Google (GOOGL.US) Pays Samsung "Huge Fees" to Pre-install Gemini AI Applications. According to court testimony, Google pays Samsung Electronics (SSNLF.US) "huge amounts" each month in exchange for pre-installing Google's generative AI application Gemini on its phones and devices, despite the company's paid installation practices being deemed illegal twice. Peter Fitzgerald, Vice President of Platform and Device Partnerships at Google, testified in Washington federal court on Monday that the company began paying Samsung fees related to Gemini starting in January of this year Fitzgerald revealed to Judge Amit Mehta, who is responsible for the case, that the contract is for at least two years, with Samsung paying a fixed monthly fee based on the number of devices, while Google will also pay Samsung a certain percentage of the revenue it earns from app advertisements.

Private equity giant Thoma Bravo aims to acquire Boeing (BA.US) subsidiary Jeppesen, planning to spend nearly $9 billion. According to reports from U.S. media citing informed sources on Monday local time, private equity fund Thoma Bravo, which has focused on the technology sector for years, is in deep negotiations to acquire Jeppesen, a navigation business under U.S. aviation giant Boeing (BA.US), with an announcement of the acquisition expected later this week. It is understood that the plan to sell Jeppesen is an important part of Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg's strategy to streamline Boeing's overly large and redundant operations and reduce debt by selling non-core assets.

Amazon (AMZN.US) is also rumored to be halting the leasing of some data centers, is the AI computing power boom starting to fade? On Monday, Wells Fargo pointed out that Amazon has paused leasing for some data centers, with Amazon's stock closing down more than 3%. Analyst Eric Luebchow wrote in a report to clients: "Over the weekend, we learned from several industry insiders that AWS has paused some leasing negotiations for hosting (especially international leases)." This follows Microsoft (MSFT.US) as another tech giant that has recently slowed down its expansion of data centers. Luebchow added that while Microsoft and Amazon may be contracting, other hyperscale service providers, such as Google (GOOGL.US), Meta (META.US), and Oracle (ORCL.US), remain "active," and the dynamics from Nvidia (NVDA.US) are still "prosperous."

Important Economic Data and Event Forecasts

Beijing time 20:55: U.S. Redbook commercial retail sales year-on-year (%) for the week ending April 14.

Beijing time 22:00: U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index for April, Eurozone consumer confidence index preliminary for April.

Next day early morning Beijing time 04:30: U.S. API crude oil inventory change (10,000 barrels) for the week ending April 18.

Beijing time 21:00: Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Jefferson speaks at the Economic Liquidity Summit, IMF releases the World Economic Outlook report.

Beijing time 21:30: 2026 FOMC voting member, Philadelphia Fed President Harker speaks at the Economic Liquidity Summit.

Beijing time 22:00: European Central Bank President Lagarde interviews with CNBC.

Next day early morning Beijing time 01:40: 2026 FOMC voting member, Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari speaks.

Next day early morning Beijing time 02:00: 2026 FOMC voting member, Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari speaks On the next day at 02:30 Beijing time: NYMEX New York crude oil May futures are affected by the rollover, with the last on-site trading completed on April 23 at 2:30, and the last electronic trading completed at 5:00. Please pay attention to the expiration rollover announcement from the trading venue to manage risks. In addition, some trading platforms have the expiration time for U.S. oil contracts typically one day earlier than the NYMEX official time, so please be cautious.

On the next day at 06:00 Beijing time: Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller will deliver a speech on "The Transmission of Monetary Policy."

Earnings Forecast

Wednesday morning: Tesla (TSLA.US), SAP (SAP.US)

Wednesday pre-market: AT&T (T.US), Boeing (BA.US), New Oriental (EDU.US)