Dow closes at record high, defying fears of panic sparked by Trump’s tariff threat
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(NEW YORK) — The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Tuesday, achieving the milestone less than 24 hours after a tariff pledge from President-elect Donald Trump sparked fears of a panic in the stock market.
The S&P 500 also closed at a record high, surging about 0.55% on Tuesday to end the day at 6,021.63. The Dow ticked up about 0.25% during the day’s trading, closing at 44,860.31.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced about 0.60%, ending the trading session at 19,174.30.
Trading began on Tuesday hours after Trump announced plans to slap tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico by executive order on the first day of his administration.
Trump late Monday said he would charge Mexico and Canada with a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States until action is taken by those countries to stem illegal immigration and the overflow of drugs across the border.
For China, Trump said that he’d impose an additional 10% tariff on products coming to the U.S.
Economists widely forecast that tariffs of this magnitude would increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.
Trump’s tariffs would cost the average U.S. household about $2,600 per year, according to an estimate from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
The major indexes were bolstered by steady performance among some major firms.
Apple — which assembles many of its products in China but enjoyed key tariff exemptions during Trump’s first term — ticked up 0.12% on Tuesday. While Nvidia, the AI chipmaker that imports most of its semiconductors from Taiwan, rose 0.66% during the trading session.
Tesla, the electric vehicle company led by Trump-ally Elon Musk, has a manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China. Shares of the EV maker ticked down 0.11% on Tuesday.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa , Kelsey Walsh, and Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.
Amazon delivery drivers and third-party workers for the nation’s predominant shopping platform have walked off the job in the past week, seeking what they consider a fair labor agreement — and triggering widespread concern among consumers about a potential disruption of deliveries amid a surge of last-minute shopping just before Christmas.
But experts who spoke to ABC News — all of whom study the e-commerce giant’s vast distribution network — said there is little indication that the nationwide demonstrations have imposed significant delays of package delivery, let alone cancellations.
“I haven’t seen evidence that the strike has been effective because of the high level of complexity of the Amazon network,” Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor of maritime business administration at Texas A&M University-Galveston who studies Amazon’s freight distribution, told ABC News.
“You’re dealing with a hydra. You can try to chop off one of its heads, but there are other heads,” Rodrigue added.
However, the protests could delay deliveries by one or two days near major cities where efforts are focused.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement that thousands of its Amazon-affiliated members are striking in areas including New York City, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; San Bernardino, California; San Francisco, California; and Skokie, Illinois.
The union has focused its efforts on delivery centers that carry packages over the “last mile” to a customer’s home, Barry Eidlin, a professor of labor sociology at McGill University, told ABC News.
Demonstrations in recent days appear to have occasionally slowed trucks passing in and out of the delivery centers, which could delay local package deliveries in those areas by a few days, Eidlin added.
Speaking to “Good Morning America” on Friday, the second day of the protests, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said the union had heard some “success stories” in its effort to disrupt deliveries.
“We are slowing the packages down,” O’Brien said, later adding: “We’ve got to use our leverage. Unfortunately, it may come at the inconvenience of the consumer.”
In that case, he urged consumers to have patience — and to fault Amazon for any delivery delays.
“Amazon is the one that caused this issue, not the drivers, not the Teamsters union,” O’Brien said.
Teamsters began participating in what they are calling a strike at seven Amazon delivery centers across the country last week.
They were joined by unionized Amazon workers at a 5,500-person warehouse in Staten Island, New York, on Saturday, the Teamsters said. Some company workers at an air hub facility in San Bernardino also joined over the weekend, the Teamsters added.
However, Amazon doesn’t consider the situation a “strike,” since there hasn’t been a work stoppage, according to Kelly Nantel, a spokesperson for the e-commerce titan.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, Nantel said the striking workers are not Amazon employees and that the demonstrations have had no impact on Amazon’s operations.
“What you’re seeing at these sites are almost entirely outsiders — not Amazon employees or partners — and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters,” Nantel said. “The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous.”
Amazon also said in a statement to ABC News that the federal government has not ordered the company to bargain with Teamsters-affiliated workers — and it said that none of its workers have paid dues to the Teamsters.
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the Teamsters, according to the union.
This means that the protesting workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 800,000 operations employees in the U.S.
And the picket lines involve a small fraction of the company’s roughly 585 delivery centers, making it unlikely that such demonstrations will meaningfully impact package delivery, even for nearby customers, said Marc Wulfraat, president and founder of logistics consulting firm MWPVL.
“For the Teamsters to have a meaningful impact, they would have to penetrate a significant number of those delivery stations in order to really cause Amazon heartburn,” Wulfraat said.
The headline-grabbing protests could also inspire some workers to organize unions at new facilities, posing a future threat to the company’s distribution network — but the protesters appear far from attaining the scale necessary for such impact, the experts said.
“We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and thanks to them, we’re not seeing any impact to customers’ orders,” Nantel said in her statement to ABC News.
Regardless of whether the protests meaningfully impact Amazon’s operations, the public attention could dissuade some customers from ordering out of fear of a possible delay, experts said.
“It’s possible a small percentage of customers might choose to buy elsewhere,” Rob Handfield, a professor of operations and supply-chain management at North Carolina State University, told ABC News.
Public awareness of the labor effort could also draw more employees to the Teamsters, building union momentum and posing a threat to the company’s distribution network in the coming months or years, experts observed.
“There certainly could be some kind of snowball effect. If I was an Amazon leader, that’s what I’d be most afraid about,” Rodrigue said.
But he also noted that the workers appear fairly far from threatening a major disruption, adding: “They still have a ways to go.”
(NEW YORK) — Homebuyers eager to forget this year’s housing market may ring in 2025 with an extra dash of zeal.
A rapid rise in home prices has coincided with stubbornly high mortgage rates, shutting out potential buyers with daunting costs.
A burst of supply could have eased prices, but no such relief was forthcoming. Instead, homeowners have balked at swapping out their current mortgage rates for higher ones, and construction has failed to make up for a long-standing shortage in new homes.
Unfortunately, next year’s housing market will likely bring more of the same, experts told ABC News.
Home prices may rise at a slower pace, offering a glimmer of hope as high mortgage rates fall slightly but continue to weigh on consumer activity, they said.
Still, the market appears locked into a fundamental mismatch of supply and demand set to frustrate buyers, the experts added.
“I don’t see much sunshine in the forecast,” Ken Johnson, chief of real estate at the University of Mississippi, told ABC News. “It’s going to be gloomy and overcast, but it’s not going to be stormy.”
An unusual trend has beguiled buyers: Home prices are soaring, despite a prolonged stretch of high mortgage rates that, in theory, should crimp demand and push down prices.
Market observers who spoke to ABC News said they expect both price increases and mortgage rates to ease in 2025 — but only a smidge.
The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage stands at 6.85%, FreddieMac data last week showed. That figure has ticked up slightly since the start of the year, despite a series of interest rate cuts at the Federal Reserve in recent months.
Earlier this month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said rate cuts may slow over the course of 2025. Such a policy would leave mortgage rates higher for longer, experts said.
Redfin, a Seattle, Washington-based real estate giant, forecasts average 30-year fixed mortgage rates will remain in the high 6% range over the duration of 2025. Online real estate marketplace Zillow says mortgage rates will fall, but only moderately.
Alongside persistently high mortgage rates, experts predicted a continued, albeit slower, rise in home prices.
In September, Goldman Sachs predicted a 4.4% rise in home prices in 2025, which would mark a slight decline from the 4.5% rise in 2024.
The persistence of high mortgage rates will put some downward pressure on prices, since demand will soften as many consumers forego expensive loans, experts said, but the high rates will also exacerbate a lack of supply that has kept prices soaring.
Current homeowners will want to remain locked into relatively low mortgage rates. Homebuilding will deliver much-needed supply of new homes, but it will fall well short of the amount required to meet demand, experts said.
“I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesn’t feel like prices are going to moderate that much,” Marc Norman, associate dean at the New York University School of Professional Studies and Schack Institute of Real Estate, told ABC News. “If you don’t have a lot on the market, that’s going to put pressure on prices.”
Experts who spoke to ABC News acknowledged that economic forces could defy expectations, leaving the housing market in better or worse shape than anticipated.
Faster-than-expected progress in bringing inflation down to the Fed’s target level could free up the central bank to slash interest rates, which in turn would lower mortgage rates, some experts said. An economic downturn would damage household finances and ease demand, likely leading to a drop in home prices, they added.
If inflation proves more stubborn than expected, however, interest rates may stay high for even longer, experts said, which could put the housing market into an even deeper freeze.
For now, the outlook for 2025 appears clear, Christopher Mayer, a real estate professor at the Columbia University Business School, told ABC News.
“My best guess is that next year is a lot like this year,” Mayer said.
(NEW YORK) — As the Teamsters’ cross-country Christmastime strike against Amazon entered its second day on Friday, the union said that “momentum continues to mount” as workers seek “fair treatment” from the online retailer.
“The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement posted on social media late Thursday.
Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country early Thursday. The union said thousands of workers were walking off their jobs at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers.
Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien is expected to join a picket line in California’s City of Industry on Friday, the union said.
Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers. Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, said the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.
“Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day,” Nantel said on Thursday. “They’re doing a great job of working for their customers and their communities and as a result of their hard work.”
The strike, which the Teamsters referred to as the largest strike in history, arrived during the busiest shopping season of the year, less than a week before Christmas.
In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful Teamsters union, according to the union. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers, but Amazon has appealed that ruling. The union said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations to begin.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union. The company in a statement described the people walking the picket lines as “almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners.”
“The truth is that [the Teamsters] were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” Amazon said. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”
Amazon’s market cap is $2.35 trillion. Shares of the retailer ticked up $2.77 on Thursday, climbing about 1.26%. The stock was down about 2 in premarket trading on Friday.
ABC News’ Taylor Dunn and Soo Youn contributed to this report.
