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In Asian company earnings, Xiaomi Corp. reported better-than-expected revenue in the March quarter as it moves to aggressively expand its presence in China’s EV market and grow its core smartphone business.
Shares of Temu owner PDD Holdings Inc. plunged in US trading after its quarterly sales and profit missed estimates, underscoring how trade tensions between Beijing and Washington are taking a toll on its business.
Meanwhile, US consumer confidence rebounded sharply in May from a near five-year low as the outlook for the economy and labor market improved amid a truce on tariffs.
Despite widespread apprehension among consumers and companies alike, the economy at large and the job market in particular have held up fairly well. Tariffs will probably take months to make their way through the economy, forecasters say, and consumers have so far been shielded from the brunt of the impact by retailers absorbing much of the higher costs.
“The book is far from closed on tariffs, as we saw over the past few days with the threat of 50% tariffs for the EU, but financial markets seem ready to move past it, and these numbers suggest that households may be moving in that direction as well,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Santander US Capital Markets, said in a note.
Elsewhere, the US government is poised to receive a so-called golden share in United States Steel Corp. as a condition for approving Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed acquisition of the American company, according to people familiar with the matter.
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