US equity markets extended their strong rebound into a fourth consecutive session on Friday (25 April), lifting the S&P and Nasdaq to their highest settlements since 2 April (the day the Trump administration unveiled sweeping tariffs on America's trading partners) – Dow edged +20-points or +0.05% higher after climbing +487-points or +1.23% last Thursday (24 April). Nvidia Corp (up +4.30%) was the leading performer in the 30-stock index. Merck & Co Inc rose +3.63% a day after the pharmaceutical major delivered better-than-expected first-quarter financial result, with EPS of US$2.22 (versus consensus US$2.13) and revenue of US$15.5B (versus consensus US$15.4B) topping consensus analysts forecasts. The pharmaceutical major slightly lowered its earnings forecast for 2025 to account for a US$200M upfront payment to Hengrui Pharma in a licensing deal, now projecting non-GAAP EPS of between US$8.82 and US$8.97 (down from a range of between US$8.88 and US$9.03 previously).
