📅 April 28, 2025 — The financial markets started the week on shaky ground as investors digested a wave of disappointing earnings from major tech giants, triggering a broad-based selloff on Wall Street. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled over 2.3% while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones also ended the day deep in the red. With the earnings season in full swing and mega-cap tech stocks missing high investor expectations, the sentiment shifted rapidly toward caution, especially as geopolitical tensions and interest rate uncertainties still loom.
Background
For weeks, market participants had been positioning around the long-awaited Q1 earnings reports from the biggest names in tech—Apple, Amazon, and Meta among them. After Microsoft and Alphabet posted strong results last week, hopes were high that the rest of the “Magnificent Seven” would follow suit.
But optimism ran into a wall as Apple reported weaker-than-expected iPhone sales, Meta guided lower on future ad revenue amid growing regulatory scrutiny, and Amazon missed on AWS growth—a critical revenue driver. These misses compounded worries that tech’s record-breaking 2024 run may have priced in too much good news.
Meanwhile, broader market concerns such as persistent inflationary pressure, mixed economic data, and uncertainties about the Fed’s June policy decision continue to create a fragile backdrop.
Today’s Market Reaction
📉 Major Index Performance – April 28, 2025
- Nasdaq Composite: 15,120.45, ▼2.31%
- S&P 500: 5,045.12, ▼1.62%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 38,580.23, ▼1.17%
- Russell 2000: 2,030.55, ▼1.89%
🛑 Tech Mega-Cap Stocks
- Apple (AAPL): $174.65, ▼4.9%
- Meta (META): $280.75, ▼6.2%
- Amazon (AMZN): $122.30, ▼5.3%
- Nvidia (NVDA): $775.88, ▼3.5%
- Tesla (TSLA): $168.92, ▼2.8%
📈 Commodities
- WTI Crude: $88.34 per barrel, ▲0.45%
- Gold: $2,296.70 per ounce, ▼0.3%
- Copper: $4.23/lb, ▼1.2%
💵 Forex & Bonds
- EUR/USD: 1.0721, ▼0.34%
- USD/JPY: 155.62, ▲0.27%
- 10-Year Treasury Yield: 4.45%, ▲4 bps
📊 Crypto
- Bitcoin (BTC): $62,850, ▼2.1%
- Ethereum (ETH): $3,040, ▼2.4%
Analysis
The sharp selloff in today’s session was squarely driven by Big Tech earnings misses, which challenged the bullish thesis underpinning much of 2025’s equity rally. Investors had bet heavily on continued revenue growth, margin expansion, and cloud/AI tailwinds—but the reality proved less rosy.
- Apple’s earnings showed a 6% YoY decline in iPhone revenue, citing weakness in China and a slower upgrade cycle. Although services revenue remained solid, it wasn’t enough to offset the hardware shortfall.
- Meta’s forward guidance highlighted weaker ad spending in Q2, especially in Europe and Asia, while also flagging increased compliance costs tied to content moderation and antitrust challenges.
- Amazon missed analyst estimates on AWS growth, which rose only 9% YoY versus expectations of 11.5%. Slowing enterprise demand and rising costs dampened sentiment.
Together, these reports underscored a cooling tech cycle, with growth normalization occurring faster than Wall Street anticipated.
Meanwhile, bond yields continued to creep higher as the market recalibrated expectations around a potential June Fed rate cut. Recent data—particularly sticky core PCE inflation from last week—suggests the Fed may need to maintain its hawkish bias longer than markets had hoped.
Investor sentiment was also hit by renewed U.S.–China tensions, following reports of a new round of U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductor tools. This led to outsized declines in chip stocks like Nvidia and AMD.
Institutional flows, as tracked by trading desk chatter and ETF movements, show a shift out of high-beta sectors (tech, consumer discretionary) and into defensives (utilities, healthcare). Risk-off is becoming more pronounced ahead of critical macro releases later this week.
Short-Term Outlook
Looking ahead, volatility is likely to remain elevated as markets await further earnings from Microsoft (AI division), Nvidia (guidance preview for May), and Apple’s annual developer conference in early May.
On the macro front, U.S. ISM Manufacturing (Wednesday) and April Nonfarm Payrolls (Friday) will be pivotal in shaping interest rate expectations.
If macro data stays firm and inflation remains sticky, the Fed may opt to delay rate cuts, pushing yields higher and compressing equity valuations—especially in growth sectors.
On the geopolitical front, continued developments around U.S.–China tech relations, combined with escalating tensions in the Middle East, could add further headline risk to already jittery markets.
Options markets are currently pricing in an elevated VIX above 19, indicating increasing demand for downside protection.
Conclusion
April 28, 2025, served as a reality check for tech bulls and the broader market. With earnings season entering its most critical phase, investors were reminded that even the most beloved companies can stumble—and when they do, the consequences ripple widely.
While the broader economic picture remains resilient, disappointments in Big Tech—which account for nearly 30% of S&P 500 weighting—pose a significant risk to the index-level performance. The forward path will be shaped not only by earnings quality but also by how macro data and central bank signals interact in the coming days.
Caution, not capitulation, appears to be the mood—but traders are bracing for more turbulence in what could be a pivotal week for markets.
