Market Climb Continues Amid Cooling Tensions and Feds Rate Steadiness

On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, the market futures continued to rally in the absence of bad news or any negative impact of potential narratives that may hamper markets. In fact, Tech stocks reached new record highs, and the S&P 500 is currently only about -1% below all-time highs. The Dow gained +507 points for the session, +0.62%, and the S&P 500 rose +67 points, +1.11%. The Nasdaq led the major indexes again today, +281 points, +1.43%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 grew +29 points, +1.39%.

The market has recovered all its losses since Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear energy development facilities, and a quickie NATO meeting this afternoon seems to have calmed nerves. Oil prices continued to slide: $64.91 per barrel on the WTI, $65.08 per barrel on Brent crude. These prices are down from $65 and $67 per share before today’s open.

Fed Chair Powell Firm on Keeping Rates Steady

Despite grilling from Republican members on the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill today, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stuck to his guns regarding keeping interest rates level. Inflation has cooled from where it was a few years ago, but proposed reciprocal tariffs — expiring on July 9th next month, barring another pause from the White House — could send prices higher again.

Employment numbers have begun to soften over the past few months, but are moving slowly in that direction and do not indicate a sudden shift in American being put out of work. While longer-term Continuing Jobless Claims have grown bigger over the past few weeks, we haven’t yet reached 2 million claims per week. Powell sees no need to involve the Fed in getting ahead of this narrative with rate cuts.

FedEx Posts Q3 Beats, Stock Falls on Guidance

Following the death of its founder, Fred Smith, over this past weekend, FedEx reported quarterly beats on both top and bottom lines for the delivery and logistics giant’s fiscal Q3. Earnings of $6.07 per share zipped past the $5.93 in the Zacks consensus. Revenues of $22.22 billion surpassed the $21.73 billion analysts were looking for.

Both its Express and Freight businesses outperformed in the quarter, although higher export volume for both the U.S. and International segments indicate a pull-forward of activity ahead of the April 2nd tariffs. Next-quarter earnings guidance has been lowered to a range of $3.40-4.00 per share, below the Zacks consensus of $4.05 per share. The stock, while initially gaining on the news, is now lagging, -4.4%.

In conclusion, the market continues to rally despite ongoing tensions in the Middle East and impending reciprocal tariff pauses. Fed Chair Powell remains firm on keeping interest rates steady, and FedEx posted strong Q3 earnings but saw its stock fall due to lowered guidance. Investors should stay vigilant as these developments unfold.

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