U.S. Stock Market Close: Tariff Uncertainty Persists, Three Major Indices Drop Back Slightly, Netflix Surges Nearly 5%

On Tuesday Eastern Time, the US stock market moved downwards after a higher opening, with all three major indices closing slightly lower. (Minute charts of the three major indices, source: TradingView) At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.38% to 40,368.96, the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.17% to 5,396.63, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.05% to 16,823.17. The three major indices had risen for two consecutive trading days prior. Compared to the recent volatile market, Tuesday's movement was notably stable. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), often referred to as the "fear index," pulled back from a high near 60 last week to around 30. The banking sector overall performed strongly, with Bank of America and Citigroup shares rising 3.6% and 1.8% respectively, as both banks' latest earnings reports exceeded market expectations. Boeing's stock fell 2.4%, as the company's CEO warned of potential delays in aircraft deliveries due to tariffs. Netflix surged nearly 5%, with reports indicating that Netflix executives have set a goal to achieve a $1 trillion market cap by 2030. Ericsson jumped over 8%, with Q1 adjusted EBIT reaching 6.21 billion Swedish krona, surpassing the average analyst estimate of 5 billion Swedish krona, driven by telecom operators increasing 5G equipment spending. Despite the recent market rebound, the US stock market is still struggling to recover from the declines following President Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs on April 2. Since then, the Dow and Nasdaq have both fallen 4.4%, and the S&P 500 has dropped 4.8%. "The worst-case scenario has been ruled out," said Larry Tentarelli, founder of the Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. "But the issue is that we could see a headline at any time that causes the market to plunge another 3%." Performance of Hot Stocks Most major tech stocks closed lower, with Apple down 0.19%, Microsoft down 0.54%, Nvidia up 1.35%, Google down 1.74%, Amazon down 1.39%, Meta down 1.87%, Tesla up 0.70%, and Netflix up 4.83%. Most popular Chinese stocks fell, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index down 0.49%, Alibaba down 1.48%, JD.com down 1.94%, Pinduoduo down 0.75%, NIO up 0.28%, XPeng Motors %, Li Auto down 1.72%, Bilibili down 1.35%, Baidu down 0.81%, NetEase down 1.30%, Tencent Music up 1.27%, and iQIYI up 6.71%. Company News [OpenAI's Social Network Layout: Targeting X Platform, Project Has Early Prototype] According to reports, multiple sources revealed that OpenAI is building a social network similar to X. Although the project is still in its early stages, there is already an internal prototype focused on ChatGPT image generation with social dynamics features. Sources said that CEO Sam Altman has been privately seeking feedback on the project from external parties. It is unclear whether OpenAI plans to release this social network as a standalone app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the world's most downloaded app last month. It is understood that a social app would provide OpenAI with its unique real-time data, while X and Meta already possess such data to help train their AI models. [Trump: Will Expedite All Necessary Licenses to Nvidia] On April 15 local time, in response to Nvidia's commitment to invest $500 billion in exclusive AI supercomputer R&D in the US, President Trump posted on the social platform "Truth Social," stating, "This is an exciting and significant news," and said he would expedite all necessary licenses and deliver them to Nvidia as soon as possible. [Citigroup Q1 Net Profit $4.1 Billion, Up 21% YoY] Citigroup announced its Q1 results, with revenue of $21.6 billion, up 3% YoY; net profit of $4.1 billion, up 21% YoY; and diluted earnings per share of $1.96. In comparison, Q1 2024 revenue was $21 billion, net profit was $3.4 billion, and diluted earnings per share were $1.58. [Bank of America Q1 EPS $0.902, Up 18% YoY] Bank of America announced its Q1 2025 results, with Q1 revenue of $27.4 billion, up 11% YoY; earnings per share of $0.902, up 18% YoY. The average return on equity was 10.4%. Bank of America's Q1 average deposit balance was $1.96 trillion, up 3%. [UK's Barclays Downgrades US Auto Industry Rating to "Negative"] On April 15 local time, UK's Barclays downgraded the US auto and mobility industry rating from "neutral" to "negative," warning that President Trump's tariffs could pressure automakers' profits and curb investment.