CNBC Daily Open: DOGE cuts and tariffs hit Accenture and Nike hard

The Trump administration’s radical overhaul of the federal government and economic policy is bleeding into corporate numbers.

Nike reported earnings Thursday, and cautioned that it expects sales in its current quarter to plunge because of tariffs and sliding consumer sentiment. Accenture, meanwhile, said its numbers have been hit by a reduction in contracts with the U.S. government as the latter reins in spending.

Those are warnings of the economic damage that countries could suffer — on a wider scale — when U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs come into effect April 2, as he had warned. Across the Atlantic, the European Union is trying to insulate its economy from such blows, postponing its tariffs on the U.S. as it hopes to negotiate a new deal with Trump.

Markets fail to sustain gains
U.S. markets lost momentum Thursday. The S&P 500 lost 0.22%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was mostly flat and the Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.33%. Accenture shares dropped 7.3% after the firm warned of cuts in contracts with the U.S. government. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.43%, its first loss in five days. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 closed unchanged as the Bank of England on Thursday held its benchmark interest rate at 4.5%.

Prices in Japan ease
Japan’s headline inflation rose 3.7% year on year in February, easing from a two-year high of 4% seen in January. Core inflation, which excludes prices of fresh food, was at 3%, lower than January’s figure of 3.2%. However, the figure was higher than expectations of 2.9% from economists polled by Reuters. The inflation figures come shortly after the Bank of Japan held interest rates steady Wednesday.

Trump’s interest rate demands
Hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced it was keeping interest rates unchanged, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that “The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S.Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy.” Trump in January said he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately,” though he didn’t follow through on the threat.

EU postpones U.S. tariff
The European Union will delay implementing its first set of tariffs on goods from the U.S. until the middle of April to allow for additional time for discussions with Washington, an EU spokesperson told CNBC Thursday. “The change represents a slight adjustment to the timeline and does not diminish the impact of our response, in particular as the EU continues to prepare for retaliation of up to EUR 26 billion [$28 billion],” they noted.

Sales weighed down by tariffs: Nike
Nike on Thursday warned that sales in its current quarter will drop by a double-digit percentage as the sneaker giant contends with “geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs, volatile foreign exchange rates and tax regulations,” Matt Friend, Nike’s finance chief, said in a conference call with analysts. Pessimistic guidance aside, Nike beat Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal third quarter.

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