Nerves, numbers, and nuance: A wild day on Wall Street

2 minutes read

17 July 2025

Nerves, numbers, and nuance: A wild day on Wall Street

Rumours travel fast across trading floors, and on this sticky New York Wednesday, they travelled faster than usual. Whispers from the White House lit up screens: President Trump might be about to sack Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. For market-watchers, it was déjà vu, reminders of trade wars and sudden tariff hikes. For just under an hour, uncertainty reigned. Stock prices dipped, the dollar wobbled, and even Treasuries skipped a beat.

When the President finally clarified, “I’m not planning on doing anything to remove Powell,” Wall Street exhaled. But as Matt Miller from Bloomberg quipped on air, “When political headlines become trading signals, you know it’s going to be a bumpy ride”. In those tense moments, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped back, while the Dow surged more than 230 points.

“Markets were simply reacting to a credible threat,” explained Michael Feroli, Chief US Economist at JPMorgan Chase, “but the real story is just how much faith, or not, investors have left in the Fed’s independence”.

Don Calcagni, chief investment officer at Mercer Advisors, summed up the sentiment: “If the independence of the Federal Reserve is called into question, everyone starts watching government bonds very closely.”

Goldman’s record-breaking run

Yet beneath the political soap opera, real business was happening, none bigger than at Goldman Sachs. The iconic investment bank stunned the Street by posting its best stock trading quarter in history. Their equities trading revenue soared by 36% to reach a record $4.3 billion, blowing past even the most optimistic analyst forecasts. Net profit jumped to $3.72 billion, with earnings per share hitting $10.91, clear evidence that volatile markets, for some, mean opportunity rather than panic.

Goldman’s CEO David Solomon declared, “Our impressive quarterly results indicate strong client engagement across our various sectors, our unique positioning in the market, and the dedication and expertise of our workforce. The economy and market trends are responding favourably to the shifting policy landscape. However, as changes seldom occur in a linear fashion, we remain vigilant regarding risk management”.

Industry experts shared the surprise. Biggar, Director of Services Research at Argus, noted, “The significantly higher-than-expected growth in investment banking was surprising; many analysts believed that macroeconomic uncertainty would be a bigger drag than it actually was”. Bar chart showing Goldman Sachs' best quarterly trading results

New medicines, new momentum at Johnson & Johnson

Not to be outdone, Johnson & Johnson provided their highlight. The pharmaceutical giant leapt over profit expectations and raised its guidance for the year, on the back of robust sales and hints of “game-changing” new treatments.

CEO Joaquin Duato explained, “We are very confident in our guidance... Our existing portfolio and new launches in cancer and immunotherapy will help us grow this year and into the next decade”. His leadership philosophy? “The most important people in the room at Johnson & Johnson are the scientists, the engineers, the salespeople who bring these therapies and medical technologies to patients. Putting people first remains our core mission”.

As Duato put it during a recent conference, “Science and technology will bring more change to health care over the next decade than we saw in the past century... this is a time of unprecedented opportunity”.

After a day of drama and data, one lesson holds true on Wall Street: clarity, adaptability, and a dash of resilience remain the keys to surviving and thriving on a rollercoaster of news.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or brokerage companies, and not of Winvesta. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.