Stock Market Today: Tesla, UPS Dominate Full Day of Earnings Moves
Tesla (TSLA) sank Tuesday despite reporting record profits while UPS (UPS) popped on a strong earnings beat. The broader indexes did a lot less moving, though.


Tesla (TSLA), United Parcel Service (UPS) and a handful of other stocks got moving on earnings news Tuesday. But broadly speaking, stocks mostly treaded water, with some investors likely keeping a watchful eye fixed on tomorrow's Federal Reserve news.
"Wednesday's FOMC statement is arguably the most important statement so far this year, as investors are increasingly trying to figure out when the Fed may start to pare back its Covid-19-related stimulus, since the economy is recovering at a faster-than-expected rate," says Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and chief strategist of research firm Quill Intelligence.
On the earnings front, UPS popped by 10.4% after reporting a 164% surge in operating profits, as well as revenues and adjusted earnings that exceeded analyst estimates. 3M (MMM, -2.6%) easily trounced Wall Street expectations, too, yet was the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (up marginally to 33,984) after it merely maintained its full-year earnings guidance.
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Be a smarter, better informed investor.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
And Tesla (-4.5%) helped drag the S&P 500 (down marginally to 4,186) Nasdaq Composite (-0.3% to 14,090) lower despite announcing a 74% jump in revenues and record quarterly net income of $438 million.
The major concern is that gains from Tesla's bitcoin investment, as well as sales of emissions credits to other automakers – and not Tesla's core business of building automobiles – accounted for virtually all of that profit.
"It was another mixed quarter, solid on gross margin but weakish on (earnings before interest and taxes) and (free cash flow), both propped up by ZEV and Bitcoin," says David Wagner, portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors. "Investors have been looking for a few things from Tesla, including the introduction of full self-driving technology, new production capacity and successful ramp of in-house batteries. TSLA did not touch on any of these, so we are not surprised by the muted market movement."
Don’t be surprised to see similar moves out of the Nasdaq’s “FAANG stocks,” most of whom report this week.
Brian Overby, senior options analyst for Ally Invest, says the market is expecting a 4.0% move in Apple (AAPL), 4.1% for Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), 5.5% for Facebook (FB) and 4.7% for Amazon.com (AMZN).
So far, so true for Alphabet. In Tuesday's early after-hours trading, GOOGL shares were 4.1% higher after it reported better-than-expected Q1 profits and sales. Alphabet said ad revenues surged by 32% year-over-year.
“These might seem like big moves,” Overby says. “but they’re about average earnings reactions for FAANG stocks, relative to what we’ve seen over the past five years. While the market has been quiet these past few weeks, we’re expecting bigger moves than the marketplace is implying after earnings, especially in tech stocks.
Other action in the stock market today:
- The small-cap Russell 2000 improved by 0.1% to 2,301.
- U.S. crude oil futures climbed 1.7% to settle at $62.94 per barrel.
- Gold futures slipped a mere 0.1% to $1,778.80 per ounce.
- The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropped by 0.8% to 17.50.
- Bitcoin prices rebounded 3.5% to $54,838. (Bitcoin trades 24 hours a day; prices reported here are as of 4 p.m. each trading day.)
- After Tuesday's close, Microsoft (MSFT) shares were trading 3.6% lower despite a strong quarterly report. The company reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings and revenue in its fiscal Q2, while sales of its Azure cloud computing product swelled 50%. MSFT had closed today's session at a record high.
Keep an Eye Out for Dividend Hikes
Just remember: Earnings season isn't just about earnings – for many of us, it's about dividends, too. Many companies use their quarterly financial reports as an opportunity to announce "shareholder rewards" such as stock repurchase plans and dividend increases.
In fact, because many companies routinely upgrade their dividends at the same time each year, the question often isn't when a dividend will be raised, but by how much.
For instance, Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers recently predicted that Apple, which is among Wednesday evening's reports, will offer up a double-digit dividend upgrade. If so, that would put Apple among a group of sterling companies.
When you think of dividend hikes, your brain likely wanders to regular raisers such as the Dividend Aristocrats, or their elite subset of Dividend Kings – but it's worth noting that the size of these annual dividend increases, especially among the longest-tenured payers, doesn't always impress.
If you're looking for companies that still appear to be in the prime of their dividend-growth days, consider these 15 companies that have announced outsized dividend increases of between 18% and 38% over the past few months.
Kyle Woodley was long AMZN as of this writing.
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
Is Trump's Tax Plan Speeding Up the Looming Social Security Funding Crisis?
Social Security Social Security's combined retirement funds are running out of cash, and its insolvency date is expected to occur in less than a decade.
-
How to Keep Your Work Friends After You Retire
Work friendships can boost teamwork, lift your spirits, and make the job more fun. But when you retire, these friendships can fade. Here's a look at why that happens and what you can do about it.
-
Stocks Struggle to Start Nvidia Week: Stock Market Today
Another important week for the stock market starts on a risk-off note.
-
Dow Rips 846 Points to New All-Time High: Stock Market Today
Fed Chair Jerome Powell seems ready to cut interest rates in the fall but will still rely on incoming economic data about inflation and employment.
-
S&P 500 Extends Losing Streak Ahead of Powell Speech: Stock Market Today
Stocks continued to struggle ahead of Fed Chair Powell's Friday morning speech at Jackson Hole.
-
Tech Sells Off While Trump Stirs the Fed: Stock Market Today
We've reached another important part of earnings season, though markets remain captivated by the president, the Fed, and interest rate policy.
-
Dow Retreats From a Record High: Stock Market Today
Quietly rising since April, Home Depot stock was conspicuously constructive Tuesday as high-profile tech names dragged equity indexes down.
-
Nasdaq Ends the Week at a New High: Stock Market Today
The S&P 500 came within a hair of a new high, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average still has yet to hit a fresh peak in 2025.
-
Stocks Swing Lower as Eli Lilly, Fortinet Spiral: Stock Market Today
The main indexes finished well off their session highs after a disappointing batch of corporate earnings reports.
-
What Tariffs Mean for Your Sector Exposure
New, higher and changing tariffs will ripple through the economy and into share prices for many quarters to come.