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Market indexes were looking like they might fall into the red this afternoon, a half hour before the closing bell, based on news from the White House that +25% tariffs were being set on our neighboring countries Canada and Mexico starting February 1st (Saturday), with Canada already signaling retaliation. But a last-minute swing toward the upside in trading ahead of the session close has kept this at bay for now.

The Dow has grown by +168 points on the day, or +0.38%, bettered by the S&P 500’s +0.53% for the session. The Nasdaq, so far the laggard major index year to date, gained +44 points, or +0.23%, with the small-cap Russell 2000 winning the day, +0.87%. All indexes are positive from the low point of the month two weeks ago.

Earnings Results After the Bell: AAPL, INTC, V and More
 

Apple (AAPL - Free Report) shares are flat in today’s after-market, following fiscal Q1 results coming out: earnings of $2.40 per share outpaced expectations by 4 dents per share, on revenues of $124.3 billion that slightly outperformed the $1245.0 billion anticipated. iPhone sales came in under expectations — $69.14 billion versus $71.03 billion projected — but its Services segment surpassed estimates, coming in +14% year over year.

Meanwhile, Intel (INTC - Free Report) reversed a two-quarter losing streak on earnings surprises, beating Q4 estimates by a penny to 13 cents per share. Revenues of $14.26 billion were notably ahead of the $13.78 billion in the Zacks consensus, though some of this may have been pulled forward from next quarter, which ratcheted revenue guidance lower for Q1. Nevertheless, Intel shares are up +2% on the news, with Gross Margins having outperformed expectations.

Visa (V - Free Report) also brought in better-than-expected figures on both top and bottom lines this afternoon, with earnings of $2.75 per share nicely improved over the $2.66 anticipated. Revenues of $9.5 billion are ahead of the $9.34 billion projected, demonstrating consistent and healthy consumer spending we’d seen in American Express and Mastercard numbers earlier this week. Shares are up +1.75% at this hour in late trading.

Fiscal Q3 earnings results for Ugg parent Deckers (DECK - Free Report) also outpaced estimates in this afternoon's release, with earnings of $3.00 per share strode past the $2.60 per share estimate, on revenues of $1.83 billion which bettered the $1.71 billion expected. Full-year earnings guidance has been raised to a range of $5.75-5.80 per share, above the $5.62 projected. Revenue guidance of $4.9 billion was in line with estimates.

What to Expect from the Stock Market Friday
 

The big news tomorrow will be the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) — the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation growth. PCE is expected to have ticked up in December, both in the month-over-month index (+0.3% versus +0.1% last time) and year over year (+2.6% versus +2.4%). Core PCE year over year is expected to be flat year over year, at +2.8%.

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