Wall Street Live: S&P 500, Nasdaq at record high after US-EU trade deal
As of 11:30 AM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down less than 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2% higher.
As of 10:15 AM Eastern Time, the S&P 500 added 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained less than 0.1%.
At the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.1 points, or 0.10%, to 44946.98. The S&P 500 rose 9.0 points, or 0.14%, to 6397.69, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 68.1 points, or 0.32%, to 21176.401.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.41% from 4.40% late on Friday. The 2-year Treasury yield rose to 3.93% from 3.91%.
As per the trade deal, a baseline tariff of 15% will be imposed on the imports from the EU.
Meanwhile, US negotiators are in Stockholm this week for another round of trade talks with China.
Besides ongoing trade talks, traders this week are looking ahead to earnings from big technology companies incaluding Apple, Microsoft and Meta Platforms.
Investors will also see the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week.
While US President Donald Trump has badgered Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, the central bank is widely expected to keep them unchanged.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla soared 3.5% after CEO Elon Musk said it signed a deal with Samsung Electronics that could be worth more than $16.5 billion to provide chips for the company.
Shares of chip company Advanced Micro Devices jumped 3.7%, and server-maker Super Micro Computer climbed 6.7%.
Gold prices fell on Monday as the US dollar appreciated as a US-European Union trade deal boosted risk appetite.
As of 10:10 AM ET (1410 GMT), spot gold fell 1% to $3,304.87 per ounce. US gold futures were down 0.6% at $3,320.20 per ounce.
Among other metals, spot silver was down 0.2% at $38.05 per ounce, while platinum fell 1.8% at $1,375.88 and palladium gained 0.5% to $1,226.25.
Oil prices surged on Monday after a trade deal between the US and the EU and President Trump's announcement that he would cut the deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine.
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EU and US Rush to Nail Down Final Details and Lock In Trade Deal
The European Union dodged an imminent trade war with the US this week, but markets and a growing chorus of critics have dispelled early hopes that the deal will bring a sense of stability back to transatlantic relations. The euro dropped the most in over two months against the dollar Monday, plunging more than 1%. That's after the common currency had surged to a near three-year high last week on the prospect of an agreement with the US. The EU over the weekend agreed to accept a 15% tariff on most of its exports, while the bloc's average tariff rate on American goods should drop below 1% once the deal goes into effect. Brussels also said it would purchase $750 billion in American energy products and invest $600 billion more in the US. 'The free trade principles that have underpinned transatlantic prosperity since the end of World War II are being systematically dismantled,' Karin Karlsbro, a Swedish member of the European Parliament's trade committee, said in a statement. 'The risk of European economic and political marginalization grows with each concession made.' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who initially cheered the deal as having 'succeeded' in avoiding a trade conflict and enabling the EU to safeguard its interests, seemed to sour on the accord. 'The German economy will suffer significant damage from these tariffs,' he told reporters Monday. 'I'm pretty sure this won't be limited to Germany and Europe. We'll also see the consequences of this trade policy in America.' French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was also critical, saying on social media: 'It's a dark day when an alliance of free peoples, united to affirm their values and defend their interests, opts for submission.' The EU and US will seek to clinch a non-legally binding joint statement by Aug. 1 that will expand on some of the elements negotiated over the weekend, according to a senior EU official. Once the statement is finalized, the US will begin lowering its tariffs on specific sectors, in particular for cars and car parts, which currently face a 27.5% levy. The two sides will then start work on a legally binding text, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The content and legal form of this document aren't clear, but it would require the support of at least a qualified majority of EU countries and possibly the European Parliament. The EU official said that reaching a consensus on the legal text could take a long time; many trade accords require years of negotiations. The EU won't start implementing the terms it agreed to — such as lowering tariffs on US products — until after this legal text is approved, according to the official. 'The agreement removes some tail downside risks but is short on details, which will need to be thrashed out over the coming weeks, risking new volatility,' Oliver Rakau — chief Germany economist at Oxford Economics — said in a note. 'Uncertainty is likely to remain elevated.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the US agreed to bilaterally lower tariffs to zero on certain strategic products, including aircraft and component parts, certain generics, semiconductor equipment and certain agricultural products. One potential sticking point in negotiations will be EU metal exports, which currently have a 50% tariff rate. The EU is pushing for a quota on metals that would lower the levies on a certain volume of goods, while anything above that would pay the 50% rate, according to the EU official. 'Uncertainty remains regarding all the details concerning the European steel industry,' said Axel Eggert, director-general of the European Steel Association. Discussions are ongoing on whether some goods, such as wine and spirits, would be exempt from the 15% tariff rate, the EU official said. Another possible issue is the EU's promise to purchase $750 billion of American energy imports over three years, an integral part to securing the deal. Yet it's hard to see how the EU attains such ambitious flows over such a short time frame. Total energy imports from the US accounted for less than $80 billion last year, far short of the promise made by von der Leyen to Trump. Total US energy exports were just over $330 billion in 2024. The EU's pledge to invest an additional $600 billion in the US is just as problematic. The investment is just an aggregate of pledges by companies and not a binding target as the European Commission can't commit to such goal, said the EU official. The uncertainty from the trade war has weighed on EU economic forecasts, with the commission in May cutting its GDP growth expectations for the year to 1.1%. It projected a 1.5% rate in November. Despite the critics, the commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, insists this was the only course of action. 'This is clearly the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances,' Maros Sefcovic, the EU's trade chief, told reporters on Monday. With assistance from Michal Kubala, Arne Delfs and John Ainger. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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How Trump got the upper hand over the EU on tariffs
Soon after he sat down to negotiate Sunday with European officials on a potential tariff agreement at his Scotland golf club, President Trump said he wanted assurances that Europe would follow through on its pledges to increase investment in the U.S. Trump questioned how the U.S. could be sure European companies wouldn't shrug off their plans, which came with a 15% levy on EU imports into the U.S. rather than the 30% Trump had threatened, according to people familiar with the matter. After EU leaders assured him that the investment plans they were talking about were real, Trump responded: 'prove it," according to one of the people. EU officials rattled off the names of European companies they said were already prepared to invest. With a trade deal in place, planned investments of almost $200 billion would grow by even more, they told Trump. At the end of the talks, Trump said the EU would now be investing $600 billion in the U.S. as part of the deal, which also included a plan to buy $750 billion of American energy products from the U.S. over three years. European officials said the $600 billion figure is based on private companies' investment plans. The agreement, widely seen as a victory for Trump, marked the culmination of monthslong talks between America and its largest trading partner and offered the biggest signal yet that nations see America's tariff regime as more permanent than temporary. The pact followed a shift in thinking by the Europeans: EU officials in recent talks sought to contain the damage the duties will inflict on the bloc's companies and economy, rather than try to negotiate the tariffs away outright. Tariffs of 15% are 'certainly a challenge for some," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. 'But we should not forget it keeps [the EU's] access to the American market." Just before Trump and von der Leyen met Sunday to iron out the agreement, Trump aides called European officials to solidify that part of the talks would focus on the EU giving U.S. companies better access to the bloc's markets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The EU's decision to accept Trump's 15% level for tariffs marked a contrast to its initial, more adversarial approach. After Trump imposed in March 25% levies for steel and aluminum, the bloc started preparing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, including American products such as peanut butter and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Some of the products were chosen to try to maximize political pain for Trump, an EU official said when the bloc's list was announced that month. After the U.K. in May got a deal that pegged tariffs to 10%, Trump's global baseline for duties, some European officials were dismissive. 'If the U.K.-U.S. deal is what Europe gets, then the U.S. can expect countermeasures from our side," Benjamin Dousa, Sweden's minister for international development cooperation and foreign trade, said at the time. But European officials eventually came to view 10% as a minimum level. They noticed Trump administration officials talking about the revenue the tariffs were pulling in. 'It was more and more clear that President Trump is dead serious about significantly transforming the landscape of global trade," EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told The Wall Street Journal on Monday, adding, 'the status quo of going back to last year, or before April 2, simply is not possible." As the EU tried to adapt, it relied heavily on Šefčovič to lead political discussions with U.S. officials. Since February, he has traveled to Washington seven times to meet with U.S. trade officials and had more than 100 hours of contact with them over recent months, including frequent phone and video calls. On one occasion about a week before Trump and von der Leyen's meeting in Scotland, Šefčovič said he spent half of a roughly 700-mile road trip to his home country of Slovakia talking with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, with his two golden retrievers panting in the back seat. At one point, 'I said Howard, it's not me," Šefčovič said of the dogs' heavy breathing. When he needed to find documents to help with the discussion, Šefčovič looked for parking lots with a Wi-Fi signal, during what turned out to be a crucial late-stage discussion ahead of the leaders' sit-down in Scotland. A major inflection point in the talks came in May, when Trump threatened on social media to apply a 50% tariff on the bloc. 'Our discussions with them are going nowhere," Trump said at the time. After a phone call with von der Leyen two days later, he said he would hold off on that threat. The bloc shifted its approach. It presented U.S. trade officials with a proposal that included plans to increase purchases of American energy products and an offer to lower tariffs for certain U.S. imports, people familiar with the matter said. Greer said in early June that the EU had provided 'a credible starting point" for talks between the two economies. Then on July 12 Trump published a letter on social media saying he would put 30% tariffs on the bloc in early August. The development was unexpected for European officials who had hoped they were close to a deal. Days after the letter was posted, Šefčovič told Fox News, in comments that foreshadowed the eventual deal, that the EU was prepared to significantly increase purchases of U.S. energy products including oil, liquefied natural gas and nuclear fuel, and to spend about $40 billion on artificial intelligence chips. He also said the EU was looking at about $500 billion in EU companies investments in the U.S. over a three-year period. Ahead of the Scotland meeting, Šefčovič sought advice from Japan's chief negotiator to get a better sense of what to expect, people familiar with the matter said. He learned that Japan's final-stage talks with Trump went beyond surface level discussions and delved into the details of the agreement. The Europeans hunkered down in a hotel in Glasgow on Sunday to discuss what kind of messaging would be most effective during the meeting with Trump, a person familiar with their preparations said. They showed up ready to talk specifics: including examples of companies' planned U.S. investments. Write to Kim Mackrael at and Brian Schwartz at
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Australia shares dragged by miners, banks; investors await inflation data
July 29 (Reuters) - Australian shares slid on Tuesday as miners and financial stocks weighed on the benchmark, while investors await the local inflation data due on Wednesday. The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.3% to 8,672.8 points by 0040 GMT. It had closed 0.4% higher on Monday. The domestic quarterly inflation report is likely to provide guidance to investors on whether the Reserve Bank of Australia would tilt towards a rate cut at its meeting next month. The last rate cut was in May, when the central bank lowered it by 25 basis points to 3.85%. On the Sydney bourse, investors tread cautiously with heavyweight financials spearheading a dip in equities. The sub-index fell about 0.7% to record its steepest intraday percentage fall in a week. The country's "big four" banks were down between 0.8% and 1.1%. Miners slipped as much as 0.9% to their lowest level since July 21, and were set for their fourth straight session of losses as iron ore prices tumbled. Minerals producer Liontown Resources shed over 1% after reporting a sequential drop in its quarterly revenue. Gold stocks piled on the losses, falling about 1.4% to hit their lowest level since July 9, as bullion prices took a hit following the U.S.-European Union trade accord that lifted the dollar and risk sentiment. Bucking the trend, however, were energy stocks that rose 0.6% as oil prices extended gains, lifted by hopes of improved economic activity after the U.S.-EU deal. Woodside Energy rose 1.3% to hit its highest level since June. Separately, the company said it will take over operatorship of the Bass Strait oil and gas assets from ExxonMobil, unlocking an estimated $60 million in synergies. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.2% to 12,882.22 points. (Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
