Corporate America Forging Ahead With Capex Plans Buoys Stocks

Wall Street’s fear that trade-war anxiety would grind corporations’ spending on machinery and real estate to a halt, so far, is looking a little overblown.

President Donald Trump’s barrage of ever-changing tariffs on US trading partners has yet to convince much of Corporate America to pull back capital expenditure plans for this year. After pouring in a record amount of money to build their businesses in the final quarter of 2024, companies are forging ahead – a promising sign for the durability of the stock market’s rebound from last month’s lows.

Roughly 71% of the Russell 3000 companies that ...