Wall Street Lunch: White House Scolds Amazon

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Press secretary calls notion of Amazon listing tariff costs ‘hostile and political.’ AMZN denies the plan. (0:15) Trade deficit balloons in March, could lead to GDP drop. (1:46) Consumer confidence almost at recession level. (2:56)

This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.

Companies looking to break out the cost of tariffs for their customers could face the ire of the White House.

Amazon was forced to deny something it hadn’t even announced after a strong rebuke from the White House on the very idea that it would list the cost of tariffs with products, much like many companies do with sales tax.

Here’s what went down: Punchbowl News said in its AM newsletter that Amazon would soon show how much Trump’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product, citing a person familiar with the plan.

Later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing that she had discussed Amazon with Trump.

“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she said.

She added that the move was “not a surprise” and cited a Reuters story from December 2021 that said Amazon had partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.

Following the briefing, Amazon went all Mission Impossible and disavowed all knowledge.

“The team that runs our ultra-low-cost Amazon Haul store has considered listing import charges on certain products. This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site, and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties,” the company said, according to reports.

On the economic front. The much-overlooked goods trade balance is in the spotlight amid the new tariff landscape, with the U.S. trade deficit tumbling in March.

The deficit rose to $162 billion from $147.8 billion the month before. That’s much wider than the estimate of -$145 billion.

Neil Sethi of Sethi Associates notes the deficit is “now up ~$59bn since Oct (65%). Imports were +5.0% (driven by a +27.5% jump in consumer goods) to $343 billion, while exports were up +1.2% (so a positive there) to $181 billion (led by industrial supplies, autos, and food/feed/beverage).”

In the wake of the numbers, Pantheon Macro economist Oliver Allen now sees Q1 GDP declining at a rate of -1%, down from his previous estimate of up +0.5%.

That’s “owing to a bigger drag on headline GDP growth that we had expected from the combined net trade and inventories components,” he said.

“The picture for Q1 overall remains that President Trump’s tariff threats set off a rush to buy goods now rather than face higher prices later, prompting a startling surge in imports that has left previous blowouts in the trade deficit looking trivial.”

Meanwhile, consumer sentiment continues to slide. The Conference Board’s measure of April consumer confidence dropped to 86 in April from 93.9, compared with the 87.7 consensus.

That marks the fifth-straight month of declines in consumer confidence, hitting levels last seen during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Average 12-month inflation expectations climbed further in April to +7.0%, from +6.2% in March, the highest level since November 2022.

Moody’s Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi notes the index “is off 19.3 points in the past 3 months. Just shy of the recession threshold of 20. Unless the trade war cools off very (very) soon, recession appears dead ahead.”

“One positive note is that the slide in confidence was mostly due to weaker consumer expectations,” he said. “Present assessments are holding up better. This suggests confidence could recover quickly with good news on the trade war, heading off a recession.”

“But having said this, the firewall forestalling a recession is the job market. And this survey, which is centered around the strength of the job market, shows cracks are forming. Jobs (plentiful vs. hard to get), which is a good forecaster of unemployment, is going in the wrong direction.”

Among active stocks, it’s all about earnings. Honeywell (HON) is one of the best S&P performers after the industrial conglomerate reported earnings that exceeded expectations and raised its full-year profit forecast, even while acknowledging unpredictable tariffs.

Honeywell reaffirmed its full-year organic sales growth guidance and raised its adjusted EPS forecast slightly to a range of $10.20 to $10.50. It said its updated outlook accounts for the anticipated impact of tariffs, its planned countermeasures, and ongoing fluctuations in global demand.

Coca-Cola (KO) issued numbers that reassured analysts. BNP Paribas analyst Kevin Grundy said that in contrast to many consumer staples peers, Coca-Cola continues to hit on all cylinders and stands out fundamentally within the group.

Meanwhile, the trend of pulling guidance amid the macro environment continued. General Motors (GM) has pulled its 2025 outlook, halted its share buyback program, and delayed its earnings call for a couple of days.

CFO Paul Jacobson said: “Because the original guidance didn’t include impact from tariffs, prior guidance can’t be relied upon.”

UPS (UPS) management noted on the company’s earnings call that expectations for the full year will remain in place if the market and economic conditions stabilize to be more in line with the assumptions that were used to build the 2025 plan. However, it was clear that was a big “if” based on the latest updates from the White House and Beijing.

And JetBlue (JBLU) said, As we continue to monitor the evolving macro backdrop, we are evaluating all levers available to us to boost profitability and preserve cash, including additional capacity reductions, targeted cost savings, and further evaluation of our fleet retirement schedule. Given the macroeconomic uncertainty, we are not reaffirming our prior full-year guidance.”

In other news of note. Hims & Hers Health (HIMS) is jumping after the telehealth company announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk (NVO) to sell the Danish drugmaker’s popular weight loss therapy Wegovy.

Novo’s direct-to-consumer platform, NovoCare Pharmacy, will be accessible through the Hims & Hers site along with all dose strengths of Wegovy.

The partnership marked a milestone for HIMS, which has come under shareholder scrutiny in recent weeks after the FDA declared an end to the Wegovy shortage in February, putting pressure on the company’s business focused on cheaper versions of the drug. In May 2025, Hims & Hers introduced compounded versions of semaglutide at an 85% discount to the branded product.

And in the Wall Street Research Corner. Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson says, “A sustained move (for the S&P 500) above 5600-5650 requires concrete progress on four catalysts: material tariff relief, Fed dovishness, sub-4% long-term rates without recession signals, and earnings revisions rebounding.”

He advocates doubling down on quality stocks with resilient earnings profiles and cyclical exposure discounted by markets, adding that “investors should use volatility to build quality exposure—both defensives and select cyclicals—rather than chasing breakouts that lack fundamental confirmation.”

Among stocks with an above-median quality composite score within each of their sectors that are also cyclical, oversold, more de-risked within each sector, and carry an Overweight rating are Kinder Morgan (KMI), Rocket Lab USA (RKLB), Stanley Black and Decker (SWK), Mattel (MAT), Nike (NKE), DoorDash (DASH), Citigroup (C), Pinterest (PINS), Reddit (RDDT), and Simon Properties (SPG).