NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are hanging near their records on Monday following President Donald Trump’s latest updates to his tariffs, as speculation continues on Wall Street that the U.S president may ultimately back down on them.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are hanging near their records on Monday following President Donald Trump’s latest updates to his tariffs, as speculation continues on Wall Street that the U.S president may ultimately back down on them.
The S&P 500 was edging down by 0.2% in early trading and still within 0.5% of its all-time high set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 86 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.
Stock indexes elsewhere around the world were mixed in their first trading after Trump said over the weekend that he plans 30% tariffs on goods from Mexico and the European Union. Those tariffs won’t take effect until Aug. 1, the same deadline he announced last week for updated tax rates on imports from Japan, South Korea and a dozen other countries.
The latest postponements for Trump’s tariffs should allow more time for him to reach trade deals with other countries that could lower the tariff rates and prevent pain for international trade. They also feed into speculation that Trump may ultimately back down on his tariffs if they end up creating too much damage for the economy and for financial markets.
If Trump were to enact all his proposed tariffs on Aug. 1, they would raise the risk of a recession. That would not only hurt U.S. voters but also raise the pressure on the U.S. government’s debt level relative to the economy’s overall size, particularly after Washington approved big tax cuts that will add to the deficit.
“We therefore believe that the administration is using this latest round of tariff escalation to maximize its negotiating leverage and that it will ultimately de-escalate, especially if there is a new bout of heightened bond and stock market volatility,” according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.
“As usual, there are many conditions and clauses that can get these rates reduced,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “That’s probably why the market might not like the tariff talk, but it’s not panicking about it either.”
For the time being, all the uncertainty around tariffs could help keep markets unsteady. This upcoming week has several potential flashpoints that could shake things.
On Tuesday will come the latest reading on inflation across the United States. Economists expect it to show inflation accelerated to 2.6% last month from 2.4% in May.
Companies are also lining up to report how they performed during the spring. JPMorgan Chase and several other huge banks will report their latest quarterly results on Tuesday, followed by Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday and PepsiCo on Thursday.
Fastenal, a distributor of industrial and construction supplies, on Monday reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock rose 4.5%, though it also said that market conditions remain sluggish.
Shares of Kenvue jumped 3.4% after the former division of Johnson & Johnson said CEO Thibaut Mongon is stepping down. Kenvue, the maker of Listerine and Band-Aid brands, is also continuing a strategic review of its options, “including ways to simplify the company’s portfolio and how it operates,” according to Larry Merlo, the board’s chair.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was holding at 4.43%, where it was late Friday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe. Germany’s DAX lost 1%, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.6%. But indexes rose 0.8% in South Korea and 0.3% in Hong Kong.
Chinese shares advanced after the government reported that exports rose last month as a truce in a tariffs war prompted a surge in orders ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline for reaching a new trade deal with Washington.
Some of the biggest moves in financial markets were for crypto, where bitcoin has been setting records. Bitcoin rose another 2.5% to top $121,000, according to CoinDesk.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Stan Choe, The Associated Press
