Wall Street hovers near records in premarket trading
Wall Street was on track to open with gains on Friday, adding to record highs ahead of next week's busy slate of earnings, job market reports and the tariff deadline.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both were up 0.1% before the bell. Nasdaq futures were flat.
The S&P and Nasdaq both closed at record highs on Thursday and markets are currently on track to finish the week with gains for the fourth time in the past five weeks.
Intel shares tumbled more than 7% overnight after the chipmaker announced plans to reduce its "core" workforce by nearly one-quarter and cut other expenses in a bid to revive the fortunes of the struggling chipmaker. Intel, which helped launch Silicon Valley as the U.S. technology hub, has fallen behind rivals like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices while demand for artificial intelligence chips soars.
Deckers Brands was up more than 13% overnight after the shoe company easily beat Wall Street's sales and profit targets. Deckers said first-quarter sales rose 17% from the same quarter last year, to $965 million, on the strength of its Ugg and Hoka brands.
Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams beer and Truly hard seltzer, climbed 7.8% after its second-quarter profit came in well ahead of analysts' forecasts. Boston Beer saw its net income rise more than 15% over last year, boosting its earnings per share in the period to $5.45. Analysts were expecting profit of $3.86 per share.
Stocks have broadly been rallying for weeks on hopes that President Donald Trump will reach trade deals with other countries that will lower his stiff proposed tariffs, along with the risk that they could cause a recession and drive up inflation. The deadline for those negotiations comes next Friday, Aug. 1.
Next week brings the peak of earnings season, with more than 100 companies in the benchmark S&P 500 reporting their latest results.
The economic data calendar is also full, with three separate reports on the labor market, including the always closely-watched monthly jobs report.
Elsewhere, in Europe at midday, Germany's DAX shed 0.8%, while Britain's FTSE 100 slid 0.4%. In Paris, the CAC 40 slipped 0.1%.
In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.9% to 41,456.23 after two days of gains following President Donald Trump's announcement of a trade deal that would place a 15% tax on imports from Japan. That's lower than the 25% rate that Trump had earlier said would kick in on Aug. 1.
Data released on Friday showed the inflation rate in Japan's capital Tokyo rose 2.9% year-on-year in July, down from 3.1% in June. Japanese government efforts to moderate inflation are working, though underlying Tokyo price pressures remain elevated, ING Economics said in a commentary. It expects the Bank of Japan to hold interest rates steady at its July 30-31 meeting, but said the central bank would likely raise its forecast for inflation.
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.1% to 25,388.35 and the Shanghai Composite index slid 0.3% to 3,593.66.
Next week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he will meet with Chinese officials in Stockholm, Sweden, to work toward a trade deal with Beijing ahead of an Aug. 12 deadline. Trump has said a China trip "is not too distant" as trade tensions ease.
"One big question for markets is whether the tariff ceasefire is extended. We expect that an agreement will be attainable, but, in the interim, markets will watch closely to see if there are adjustments to current tariff rates in either direction," ING Economics said.
In South Korea, the Kospi picked up 0.2% to 3,196.05, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,666.90.
Taiwan's Taiex edged less than 0.1% lower, and in India, the Sensex fell 0.9%.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 added 0.1% to its all-time high set the day before, closing at 6,363.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7% to 44,693.91, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to a record 21,057.96.
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil added 27 cents to $66.30 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, also rose 27 cents to $68.63 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 147.65 Japanese yen from 147.00 yen. The euro fell to $1.1723 from $1.1750.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LBCI
6 hours ago
- LBCI
US Commerce Secretary says Trump likes TikTok, but app has to move to US ownership
U.S. President Donald Trump likes TikTok but the Chinese-owned short video app, used by some 170 million Americans, has to move to U.S. ownership, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said on Sunday. "The President really likes TikTok, and he said it over and over again, because, you know, it was a good way to communicate with young people," Lutnick said in an interview on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream. "But let's face it, you can't have the Chinese have an app on 100 million American phones, that is just not okay. So, it's got to move to American ownership, it's got to move to American technology, American algorithms," he said. "I know the President is positive towards TikTok, if it can move into American hands." Reuters
Ya Libnan
9 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Trump announces EU trade deal with 15% tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after the announcement of a trade deal between the U.S. and EU, in Turnberry, Scotland, on July 27, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters President Donald Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. reached a trade deal with the European Union , following pivotal discussions with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen days before the Aug. 1 tariff deadline. Trump said that the deal imposes a 15% tariff on most European goods to the U.S., which is lower than the 30% rate he had previously threatened against the United States' largest trading partner. Trump also said that the 27-member bloc has agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and invest an additional $600 billion worth of investments into the U.S. above current levels. He said that the bloc would also be 'purchasing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment,' but did not provide a specific dollar amount. 'It's a very powerful deal, it's a very big deal, it's the biggest of all the deals, Trump said alongside von der Leyen. 'It's a good deal, it's a huge deal, with tough negotiations,' von der Leyen said after the meeting. While questions remain about the specific details and timeline of the EU investments, the agreement marks a pivotal moment for Trump, following weeks of uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-EU trade talks. Trump during a press conference before his meeting with the European leader said that there was a 50-50 chance they would reach a framework of a deal. Brussels had been preparing for a no-deal scenario if the trade talks devolved ahead of Aug. 1. Lawmakers had approved a major package of counter-tariffs, which would have targeted a range of U.S. goods. The bloc also considered deploying the EU's ' Anti-Coercion Instrument ,' a move seen as the trading bloc's 'trade bazooka.' Ireland's Prime Minister said that the agreement 'brings clarity and predictability to the trading relationship between the EU and the US.' 'It does mean that there will now be higher tariffs than there have been and this will have an impact on trade between the EU and the US, making it more expensive and more challenging,' the Department of the Taoiseach said in a statement . Still, the agreement 'creates a new era of stability,' the statement continued. CNBC
Nahar Net
2 days ago
- Nahar Net
Tea-loving Nepal is warming up to coffee
by Naharnet Newsdesk 25 July 2025, 15:55 Coffee hasn't always been an easy sell in Nepal. The Himalayan country is a major tea producer, as well as a major consumer. When people greet each other in the morning, they don't ask "how are you." They say "have you had your tea?" Tea — usually served with as a sweet, milky beverage in a piping hot glass tumbler — is as much a part of Nepal's culture as rice, a constant presence at homes, meetings and social gatherings. But a growing number of Nepalis are warming up to coffee, as trendy cafes spring up street corners in cities and towns across the country. Nepalis started trying coffee in the 90s One cafe in the capital, Kathmandu, is widely seen as the pioneer. Gagan Pradhan began Himalayan Java as a single cafe in an alley, and it's grown to a chain with 84 locations the country. Pradhan estimates there around 7,000 cafes across the country, although so far international brands like Starbucks aren't in Nepal. "There are lot of tea shops throughout the nation, but the kind of set up they have is still kind of old fashioned," Pradhan said. "I think with investors and people like us, when it comes to coffee shop we are more serious not only with machines, we are serious with everything like the lighting, the set up, the furnishings, the location." Pradhan said tea shops usually offer just black tea or tea with milk, whereas a typical coffee menu has 10-15 hot beverages and about 10-15 cold beverages, he said. Pradhan said it's an appealing business because the initial investment to open a cafe is very low, they're clean and simple enough for a single to family to run, and customers are willing to pay more for coffee. Several of eastern Nepal's tea plantations in the mountains of east Nepal, famous for the tea, are joined by coffee plantations now. Coffee is expensive, but it's a lifestyle Nepal is part of a regional trend. Coffee consumption has soared across traditionally tea-drinking countries in Asia as members of growing middle classes seek out novel flavors and adopt international trends. Coffee is a premium drink in Nepal: it costs about $2 at Himalayan Java, which is enough to buy a meal at a local cafe in Kathmandu, or five cups of tea. Still, cafes bustle with officers workers on breaks and students looking for places to study. "I think the idea of drinking coffee (in Nepal) was first triggered with people thinking it would elevate their standard of living, but then once they tasted coffee many people just liked it and continued to drink it," said Deep Singh Bandari, a social worker who is a regular visitor to the coffee cafes. Nepal is starting to produce coffee too Most of the coffee drunk in Nepal is imported, but in the country's famous eastern tea-growing regions coffee plantations are springing up. According to Nepal's National Tea and Coffee Development Board, about 400 tons of coffee was produced in fiscal year 2021-22, the most recent for which data is available. That's a drop in the percolator compared to the 26,000 tons of tea produced the same year, but the board predicts rapid growth. "Both young and old people in Nepal just love coffee, and the number of coffee drinkers is growing every day. This trend is just going to grow," said Pradhan.
