Tariff-related discussions in the earnings calls of S&P 500 companies have surged since the US presidential election in November 2024, with tariffs joining inflation as one of the most widely mentioned topics, according to an analysis of S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
The number of earnings calls that mention tariffs increased across all eight sectors tracked in Market Intelligence's analysis, which covered the six months since the election. Other keywords and phrases covered by the analysis included inflation, interest rates, recession, ESG, sustainability and artificial intelligence.
Among these keywords, the number of companies that mentioned recession during earnings calls increased in four sectors, while discussion of AI increased in one. Calls with discussions about interest rates, inflation and sustainability decreased in all eight sectors. Calls with mentions of environmental, social and governance, as well as AI declined in six.
US President Donald Trump introduced select tariffs in February. This was followed by a "reciprocal" tariff program on most trading partners that was originally slated for implementation in April but later delayed until July.
Biggest increases, decreases in call mentions
The number of earnings calls mentioning tariffs rose more than the number of calls mentioning other keywords in the analysis across all eight sectors when comparing the preelection and postelection periods.
The consumer sector had the biggest increase in company earnings calls that mentioned tariffs, with the topic coming up in 64 calls in the six months following the election compared to 10 calls in the six months preceding it. The industrials sector followed, with the number of calls mentioning tariffs climbing to 61 from 10.
In the postelection period, the number of earnings calls mentioning inflation decreased more than any other keyword in three sectors. This was led by the healthcare sector, for which the number of calls mentioning inflation dropped by half to 25 calls after the election.
Trending topics after election by sector
Despite the uptick in calls with tariff-related discussions, inflation remained the most mentioned keyword in postelection earnings calls for four sectors, led by the consumer sector, which had 109 calls mentioning inflation. However, inflation-related discussion was down from the preelection period, when it was the topic that came up in the most calls for all sectors except tech, media and telecommunications.
Tariffs were mentioned in more earnings calls than any other keyword in three sectors, led by the consumer sector.
Real estate was the only sector in which tariffs or inflation were not the dominant keyword mentioned in postelection earnings calls. Instead, interest rates were the most discussed topic, mentioned in 18 calls.
After the election, ESG was the least-mentioned topic in the keyword analysis across all sector earnings calls. The term was mentioned overall in only 13 S&P 500 earnings calls. Notably, usage of the term ESG was also scarce in the preelection period.
