3M estimates tariffs could have annual financial impact of $850 million
Wall Street rallies to recover some of its sharp losses
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U.S. stocks were jumping in a widespread rally Tuesday, and other U.S. investments were steadying a day after falling sharply on worries about President Donald Trump’s trade war and his attacks on the head of the Federal Reserve.
Among the stocks that rallied Tuesday: Maplewood-based 3M, which climbed more than 8 percent as of mid-afternoon, after the maker of Scotch tape and Command strips reported better-than-expected earnings in the first quarter.
But officials with 3M estimated that tariffs could add up to an $850 million annual impact on the manufacturer.
That’s before mitigation steps the company can take, such as finding different suppliers, or potentially raising prices on some products. 3M said it already exports more goods than it imports to the U.S.; most of the estimated costs of tariffs stem from products flowing to and from China.
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On a Tuesday call with investors, 3M CEO Bill Brown said the company has a “solid game plan” for addressing tariffs.
“With the significant footprint we have in the U.S., and the flexibility of our global network, we are identifying a number of ideas to adjust product sourcing and logistics flows to mitigate at least part of the impact, some of which are no-regret moves regardless of where trade policies eventually settle,” he said.
Brown also said that 3M’s large U.S. footprint leaves it better-positioned to address tariffs than a lot of its competitors.
The company also stood by its forecast for profit for the full year, possibly up to $7.90 per share, though it said tariffs may drag down its earnings per share by up to 40 cents per share.
Overall on Wall Street, the S&P 500 was up 2.4 percent in late trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 996 points, or 2.6 percent, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.7 percent higher. All three indexes had more than made up their big losses from the start of the week.
The value of the U.S. dollar also stabilized after sliding against the euro and other competitors, while Treasury yields held steadier as more calm returned to financial markets. Sharp, unusual moves for the dollar and for Treasurys have recently raised worries that Trump’s policies are making investors more skeptical about U.S. investments’ reputation as the world’s safest.
The only prediction many Wall Street strategists are willing to make is that financial markets will continue to jerk up and down as hopes rise and fall that Trump may negotiate deals with other countries to lower his tariffs. If no such deals come quickly enough, many investors expect the economy to fall into a recession.
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global economic growth this year to 2.8 percent, down from 3.3 percent. But Vice President JD Vance also said he made progress with India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, on trade talks Monday.
A suite of better-than-expected profit reports from big U.S. companies, meanwhile, helped drive U.S. stocks higher.
Equifax jumped 13.8 percent after reporting better profit for the first three months of 2025 than analysts expected. It also said it would send more cash to its shareholders by increasing its dividend and buying up to $3 billion of its stock over the next four years.
Homebuilder PulteGroup rose 8.6 percent after it likewise delivered a stronger profit for the start of 2025 than analysts expected.
It’s been benefiting from the sharp moves in the bond market. The drops for Treasury yields recently are translating into lower mortgage rates for potential customers. The drops for stock prices that are happening at the same time, though, are also likely scaring potential buyers.
CEO Ryan Marshall said buyers “remain caught between a strong desire for homeownership and the affordability challenges of high selling prices and monthly payments that are stretched.”
Tesla rose 4.3 percent ahead of its earnings report, which is scheduled to arrive after trading ends for the day. That trimmed its loss for the year so far to roughly 41 percent.
Elon Musk’s electric car company has already reported its first-quarter car sales dropped by 13 percent from the year before. It’s been hurt by vandalism, widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott amid a backlash to Musk’s high-profile role in the White House overseeing a cost-cutting purge of U.S. government agencies.
Stocks also showed how Trump’s tariffs could create winners and losers in a remade global economy.
First Solar jumped 10.4 percent after the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized harsher-than-expected solar tariffs on some countries in southeast Asia.
U.S. defense contractors, meanwhile, had some of the market’s sharpest losses after RTX said tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, along with other products, could mean an $850 million hit to its profit this year. RTX, which builds airplane engines and military equipment, fell 9 percent even though it reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter.
Kimberly-Clark lost 1.9 percent even though the maker of Huggies and Kleenex likewise reported a better-than-expected profit.
CEO Mike Hsu said that “the current environment will now mean greater costs across our global supply chain” versus what it expected at the start of the year, and the company lowered its forecast for an underlying measure of profit this year.
In the bond market, longer-term yields eased following an unsettling run higher the day before. The yield on the 10-year Treasury pulled back to 4.39 percent from 4.42 percent late Monday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe following modest, mixed moves across Asia.