Tobacco stocks stay lit as Wall Street tumbles

The companies are weathering the storm because their manufacturing is predominantly domestic.

4/3/25 11:13AM

Companies that sell cigarettes and other nicotine products some Wall Street traders may be abusing today are up amid a broader market meltdown over President Trump’s tariff announcement.

British American Tobacco (which makes Newports, Camels, and Vuse vapes), Philip Morris International (which makes Iquos vapes and Zyns), and Altria (which makes Malboros and Njoy vapes) all rose more than 2% on Thursday morning. At the same time, the S&P 500 is sinking more than 4%.

Tobacco products are predominately manufactured domestically and are therefore insulated from tariffs. Even Zyn, a product that originates from Sweden, is manufactured in Kentucky.

On top of tariffs, Trump also signed an executive order ending the de minimis treatment that enabled cheap imported goods from China and Hong Kong to enter the US without facing duties. That closes a loophole that allowed Chinese vapes (think Elf bar and Geek bar) to enter the country. Tobacco companies have fought to end the sale of those vapes, which are more popular than domestic versions but don’t have to follow FDA rules.

Matt Phillips7h

Oil settles Friday at highest level since start of war

US oil prices moved higher in afternoon trading Friday, sapping strength from the stock market as they posted their highest close since the start of the Iran war.

After another day where the Strait of Hormuz was essentially closed to global tanker traffic, US futures for West Texas Intermediate settled up 3.1% at $98.71 a barrel for an 8.6% weekly gain, per Dow Jones data.

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

Oil Posts Weekly Gains As Middle East Conflict Drags On

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks post third straight week of losses as Brent crude surges above $100

Stocks wiped out early gains to close lower amid the ongoing war in Iran.

Matt Phillips11h

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

Luke Kawa

12h

The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.