Stock Market News for Jul 3, 2025
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 10.25 points to close at 44,484.42. Notably, 17 components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory and 13 finished in positive zone. The index is currently 1.3% away from its all-time high recorded on Dec 4, 2024.
The major gainer of the index was NIKE Inc. NKE. The stock price of the sports retail behemoth was up 4.1% following the U.S.-Vietnam trade deal. NIKE currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished at 20,393.13, rising 0.9% or 190.24 points due to strong performance of technology bigwigs. This was a new record-high closing for the index. The S&P 500 was up 0.5% to finish at 6,227.42, marking a new closing-high. In intraday trading, Wall Street's most observed benchmark posted a new all-time high of 6,227.60.
Seven out of 11 broad sectors of the broad-market index ended in positive territory while four in negative zone. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK), the Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) and the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) advanced 1.1%, 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. On the other side, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) fell 1%.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 1.1% to 16.64. A total of 16.95 billion shares were traded on Wednesday, lower than the last 20-session average of 17.82 billion.
Positive Developments on Trade Deals
President Donald Trump said that United States has signed a trade deal with Vietnam through which Vietnamese goods will be subject to 20% U.S. tariffs. Vietnam also agreed that a 40% tariff rate will be levied if goods originated in another country and were transferred to Vietnam for final shipment to the United States. Vietnam was subject to a 46% tariff on President Trump's reciprocal tariff chart.
President Trump is hopeful that a trade deal between the United States and India could be signed before the July 9 deadline, which ends the 90-dayb pause of tariff imposed by the U.S. administration. India was subject to a 40% tariff on President Trump's reciprocal tariff chart.
Trump's Giant Tax and Spending Bill
On July 1, U.S. Senate finally cleared President Trump's megabill after prolonged negotiations and a series of amendments by a narrow margin. The bill managed to pass through the Senate with a majority of 51-50. Several Republican Senators voted against the bill defying the party line. The final tie-breaking vote was casted by the Vice President JD Vance.
The bill is now headed for the House of Representatives. Last week President Trump pressured the lawmakers to clear the bill to his table by July 4. It is still not clear whether a divided Republican Representatives will pass the bill by the deadline.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the bill will add more than $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. The U.S. government is currently facing a massive $36.2 trillion of fiscal deficit.
Economic Data
Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP reported that U.S. private sector payrolls contracted unexpectedly by 33,000 in June in contrast to the consensus estimate of a gain of 100,000. Jobs addition in May was also revised downward to 29,000 from 37,000 reported earlier. Professional and business services was the hardest hit sector in June.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in the coming year. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +112%, +171%, +209% and +232%.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
NIKE, Inc. (NKE): Free Stock Analysis Report
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP): Free Stock Analysis Report
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
China shows signs of tackling the price wars that are taking a toll on its EV industry
BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government is signaling enough is enough when it comes to the fierce competition in the country's electric car market. China's industrial policy has engineered a remarkable transformation to electric vehicles in what is the world's largest auto market. In so doing, it has spawned far more makers than can possibly survive. Now, long-simmering concerns about oversupply and debilitating price wars are coming to the fore, even as the headline sales numbers soar to new heights. Market-leader BYD announced this week that its sales grew 31% in the first six months of the year to 2.1 million cars. Nearly half of those were pure electric vehicles and the rest were plug-in hybrids, it said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing. The company phased out internal combustion engine cars in 2022. BYD came under thinly veiled criticism in late May when it launched a new round of price cuts, and several competitors followed suit. The chairman of Great Wall Motors warned the industry could come under threat if it continues on the same trajectory. 'When volumes get bigger, it's just much harder to manage and you become the bullseye,' said Lei Xing, an independent analyst who follows the industry. The government is trying to rein in what is called 'involution' — a term initially applied to the rat race for young people in China and now to companies and industries engaged in meaningless competition that leads nowhere. BYD has come under criticism for using its dominant position in ways that some consider unfair, sparking price wars that have caused losses across the industry, said Murthy Grandhi, an India-based financial risk analyst at GlobalData. With the price war in its fourth year, Chinese automakers are looking abroad for profits. BYD's overseas sales more than doubled to 464,000 units in the first half of this year. Worried governments in the U.S. and EU have imposed tariffs on made-in-China electric vehicles, saying that subsidies have given them an unfair advantage. Market leader BYD comes under attack The latest bout of handwringing started when BYD cut the price of more than 20 models on May 23. The same day, the chairman of Great Wall Motors, Wei Jianjun, said he was pessimistic about what he called the 'healthy development' of the EV market. He drew a comparison to Evergrande, the Chinese real estate giant whose collapse sent the entire industry into a downturn from which it has yet to recover. 'The Evergrande in the automobile industry already exists, but it is just yet to explode,' he said in a video message posted on social media. Two days later, a BYD executive rejected any comparison to Evergrande and posted data-filled charts to buttress his case. 'To be honest, I am confused and angry and it's ridiculous!' Li Yunfei, BYD's general manager of brand and public relations, wrote on social media. 'All these come from the shocking remarks made by Chairman Wei of Great Wall Motors.' Next, the government and an industry association weighed in. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers called for fair competition and healthy development of the industry, noting that major price cuts by one automaker had triggered a new price war panic. On the same day, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology vowed to tackle involution-style competition in the auto industry, saying that recent disorderly price wars posed a treat to the healthy and sustainable development of the sector. 'That price cut might have been the final straw that irked both competitors and regulators for the ruthlessness that BYD continues to show,' Lei said. A promise to pay suppliers within 60 days signals possible shift The following month, 17 automakers including BYD made a pledge: They would pay their suppliers within 60 days. One way China's automakers have been surviving the bruising price wars is by delaying the payments for months. The agreement, if adhered to, would reduce financial pressure on suppliers and could rein in some of the fierce competition. 'The introduction of the 60-day payment pledge is the call of the government to oppose involution-style competition,' said Cui Dongshu, the secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. It also reduces the risk of an Evergrande-like scenario. Many automakers had stretched out payments by paying suppliers with short-term debt — promises to repay them in a certain period of time — instead of cash. Real estate developers used the same system. It worked until it didn't. When Evergrande defaulted on its debts, suppliers were left holding worthless promises to pay. 'This practice is seen as a potential cause of a larger crisis, similar to what happened with Evergrande,' Grandhi said. The vows to speed up payments and the government calls to rein in the price wars, along with a rollback of some financing offers, point to an effort to reverse downward price expectations, said Jing Yang, a director at Fitch Ratings who focuses on the auto industry. 'We may watch how effectively these measures are in reversing the price trend and how would that affect EV demand in the coming quarters,' she said.
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Prediction: This Growth Stock Will Skyrocket in the Second Half of 2025
Key Points Micron Technology has clocked impressive gains so far in 2025, and it looks set to fly higher in the second half of the year as well. The company's latest quarterly results make it clear that it is benefiting big time from fast-growing demand for memory chips used in various applications. Micron's solid growth potential and attractive valuation make the stock a no-brainer buy right now, considering the potential upside it could deliver. Memory specialist Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) has been delivering terrific growth in recent quarters thanks to booming demand for its chips deployed in data centers, smartphones, and personal computers (PCs), which explains why the stock has clocked solid gains of 46% so far this year. Micron released its fiscal 2025 third-quarter results (for the three months ended May 29) on June 25. A closer look at the company's numbers and guidance suggests that its rally is here to stay in the second half of the year. Let's look at the reasons why investors can expect Micron stock to deliver more upside for the rest of the year as well. Artificial intelligence (AI) has supercharged Micron Technology's growth Micron's fiscal Q3 revenue shot up 37% year over year to $9.3 billion, while its adjusted earnings more than tripled to $1.91 per share. The numbers crushed Wall Street's expectations of $1.60 per share in earnings on revenue of $8.86 billion. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra remarked on the latest earnings conference call that its data center revenue more than doubled from the year-ago period and hit record levels last quarter. This terrific growth was driven by the healthy demand for Micron's high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips that are integrated with AI accelerators from the likes of Nvidia and AMD. Micron management points out that it is shipping its HBM chips in high volumes to four customers right now, who are integrating them with both graphics cards and custom AI processors. Importantly, Micron is not resting on its laurels and is focused on further improving the performance of its HBM chips. The company claims its next-generation HBM4 chips, which will succeed the HBM3E offerings, will pack 60% more performance while reducing power consumption by 20%. The company has already provided samples of HBM4 to customers and expects to start the volume production of this product in 2026. Micron's focus on pushing the envelope on the product development front is the right thing to do, considering that the HBM market is set to take off impressively in the long run. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that the HBM market could generate annual revenue of $130 billion by 2030. That would be a huge jump over the $4 billion revenue this segment clocked in 2023. Micron, therefore, still has massive room for growth in this segment, both in the short and long run. The strong momentum provided by the HBM business tells us why the company's guidance for the current quarter points toward another solid increase in its top and bottom lines. Micron has guided for $10.7 billion in revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter, which would be a 38% increase over the prior-year period. That would be a slight improvement over the revenue growth it reported in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, Micron's forecast of $2.50 per share in earnings for the current quarter suggests its bottom line will more than double from the year-ago period's reading of $1.18 per share. The stronger growth in Micron's earnings can be attributed to a favorable memory pricing environment. Memory manufacturers such as Micron have been increasing the prices of chips on account of solid HBM demand and supply constraints. According to TrendForce, the average price of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips increased in the range of 3% to 8% in the second quarter, owing to an increase in sales of HBM, along with an improvement in the demand for mobile and consumer-oriented DRAM chips. Looking ahead, Micron management estimates that adoption of AI-enabled personal computers (PCs) and smartphones will contribute to the company's growth in the coming quarters. So Micron's catalysts are likely to get stronger as the year progresses, and that could pave the way for more upside in the second half of 2025 and beyond. A big reason to buy the stock right now We have already seen how rapidly Micron's revenue and earnings are growing. However, the company's valuation suggests that it is extremely undervalued, considering the phenomenal growth it's been clocking. Micron has a trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 22, while the forward earnings multiple is even more attractive at 11. The company is on track to end the current fiscal year with adjusted earnings of $7.76 per share (based on its guidance of $2.50 per share for fiscal Q4 and cumulative earnings of $5.26 per share in the first three quarters of the year). That would be a huge increase over its fiscal 2024 earnings of $1.30 per share. What's more, analysts are expecting a 54% spike in Micron's earnings in the next fiscal year to $12.05 per share. If the stock maintains its trailing earnings multiple of 23 after a year, its stock price could hit $265. That would be more than double current levels. As such, Micron's latest quarterly results should give its rally a nice shot in the arm in the second half of the year, as the market could reward its terrific growth with a richer valuation, while the projected earnings growth for the next fiscal year indicates that it could continue soaring in 2026 as well. Should you invest $1,000 in Micron Technology right now? Before you buy stock in Micron Technology, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Micron Technology wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $692,914!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $963,866!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,049% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to179%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
U.S. Congress passes Trump's sprawling domestic policy bill
Congress has given its final approval to U.S. President Donald Trump's sprawling One Big Beautiful Bill Act, funding his mass deportations and border wall, cutting taxes, taking away health care coverage and food stamps from millions of low-income Americans, and cancelling programs to fight climate change. The House of Representatives passed the legislation 218 to 214 on Thursday afternoon after a session lasting nearly 24 hours, during which Mr. Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson cajoled reluctant members of their Republican caucus and Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries staged a record-breaking speech. The vote broke down mostly along party lines, with just two Republicans joining all Democrats to vote against the law. The President planned a White House signing ceremony at 5 p.m. on Friday, marking Independence Day, the deadline he imposed on his party to deliver the legislation. It is the first significant legislative achievement of his second term, in which he has so far tried to do as much as possible by executive order. 'What a great night it was. One of the most consequential Bills ever. The USA is the 'HOTTEST' Country in the World, by far!!!' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. In one fell swoop, the bill, which is expected to add US$3.3-trillion to the national debt over 10 years, will implement the core of his domestic agenda. U.S. Congress just passed Trump's massive tax and spending cuts bill. Here's what to know Over the next four years, it allocates US$46-billion for the wall on the Mexican border, US$45-billion for immigration detention facilities and US$14-billion to ramp up his program of rounding up and deporting undocumented immigrants. It's a major funding increase for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which currently has a US$10-billion budget. ICE is expected to nearly triple its number of agents and spend more money annually than the entire military budgets of many countries. The bill also makes permanent the cuts to corporate and personal income-tax rates first passed in 2017, during Mr. Trump's first term, and adds temporary tax relief for tipped workers and a higher child tax credit. It further contains US$125-billion in defence spending, including US$25-billion for the 'Golden Dome' missile defence system Canada has asked to join. The legislation partly offsets these costs by cutting more than US$1.3-trillion out of health care and food aid. The steepest cuts will hit Medicaid, a program that provides government-funded health insurance to the poorest Americans, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps. Smaller cuts will affect Medicare, the health insurance program for senior citizens and people with disabilities, and subsidies for people buying private insurance on the Obamacare markets. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 12 million people will lose health care and 4.7 million will lose food stamps as a result. The legislation also rolls back US$488-billion in subsidies for wind and solar electrical power projects, and electric-vehicle tax credits, while adding some new subsidies for burning coal. 'People will die. Tens of thousands, perhaps year after year after year, as a result of the Republican assault on the health care of the American people,' Mr. Jeffries thundered during his marathon speech, in which he described the bill as 'a crime scene' for its Medicaid and food-stamp cuts. Throughout the debate, Democrats pointed to analyses, including by Mr. Trump's alma mater at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, that 70 per cent of the bill's tax benefits would go to the top 10 per cent of income earners. Mr. Jeffries began speaking at 4:52 a.m. and continued for eight hours and 45 minutes, the longest anyone has spoken in the House, finishing at 1:37 p.m. The speech followed an all-night session during which Mr. Johnson spent nine hours on a single procedural vote to give himself and Mr. Trump time to lobby holdout Republicans. Tony Keller: Trump has yet to kill the golden goose that is the U.S. economy. But he's working on it The bill had originated in the House, which passed an earlier version in May by a single vote. But the Senate made a suite of changes – deepening both the tax and health care cuts, and adding to the debt required to finance the bill – meaning the House had to vote again. The Senate's changes complicated the legislation both for the handful of remaining fiscal conservatives in the Republican House caucus as well as for moderates. Mr. Trump used meetings, phone calls and public berating to cajole his caucus into line. 'MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!,' he wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight. His policy chief, Stephen Miller, chimed in with tweets saying the bill will 'liberate America from invasion' and represented 'the moment to save civilization.' Mr. Johnson took a lighter touch, extolling the law's virtues before the final vote. 'If you're for a secure border, safer communities and a strong military, this bill is for you,' he said. In the end, the only Republicans to vote against were Thomas Massie, a Kentucky deficit hawk, and Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a swing district in Pennsylvania. Now, both Democrats and Republicans will try to win the messaging war on the legislation. A Quinnipiac University poll shows 55 per cent of respondents oppose the bill and 29 per cent support it, and Democrats will be hoping to leverage pain caused by safety-net cuts in Republican communities to argue that Mr. Trump has broken campaign promises not to roll back health care. Republicans, for their part, will be playing up the tax cuts and pushing the mass deportations as the fulfilment of Mr. Trump's central policy agenda. The bill also drove a wedge between Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, who spent US$277-million helping Republicans get elected last year. The Tesla billionaire, upset with the legislation's big-spending ways and its cut to electric-vehicle subsidies, is now musing about starting his own political party. Mr. Trump has fired back by saying Mr. Musk should be sent back to his native South Africa.
