Trade War Uncertainty Makes Companies Yank Forecasts

New poll shows more than 80% of senior executives worry about tariffs and other policy shifts

- Chip Cutter, Bob Tita & Stephen Wilmot

A new wave of major U.S. and European companies, including General Motors, JetBlue, Snap and Volvo, are warning that the trade war's unknowable course and consequences make it futile to forecast future performance.

GM, JetBlue and Volvo all shelved earlier profit guidance for 2025 due to economic uncertainty. The shape-shifting nature of President Trump's automotive duties have clouded the outlook, GM said, while JetBlue predicted that softer demand would plague the airline into the summer.

Snapchat parent company Snap said it wouldn't issue guidance like it normally does and warned the social-media platform could suffer from an advertising slump. UPS didn't update its outlook, though it predicted lower shipping volumes and revenue for the second quarter. It also announced 20,000 workers would be laid off.

Cutting costs at the company couldn't be timelier given the fast-evolving macroeconomic environment where tariffs are a major point of uncertainty, UPS Chief Executive Carol Tomé told analysts and investors.

The shipper has talked to its top 100 customers in the U.S. to understand how their businesses are affected by new trade policies. All of them are still exploring how to absorb the cost of tariffs, push them down to consumers or get suppliers to defray the added expense, Tomé said, adding that by modeling different scenarios UPS should be able to adjust to the rapid shift in business.

"The world hasn't been faced with such enormous potential impacts to trade in more than 100 years," she said. "The only thing we're certain of is we don't know which, if any, of our scenarios will play out."

Pulling guidance can frustrate investors looking to evaluate companies, while making it harder for Wall Street to set its expectations. The reluctance to give financial forecasts also shows the degree to which executives lack visibility into the economy now.