
Wall Street drifts near records as it heads for the finish of a winning week
Wall Street is drifting on Friday toward the finish of its third winning week in the last four, as more big U.S. companies deliver stronger profits for the spring than analysts expected.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in early trading after setting its all-time high the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 25 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.4% after coming off its own record.
Norfolk Southern chugged 2.6% higher after an AP source said it's talking with Union Pacific about a merger to create the largest railroad in North America, one that would connect the East and West coasts. Any such deal, though, would likely face tough scrutiny from U.S. regulators. Union Pacific's stock slipped 0.5%.
Netflix, meanwhile, fell 4.7% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than Wall Street expected. Analysts said it's not a surprise the stock was sluggish after it had already soared 43% for the year so far, coming into the day. That's six times more than the gain for the S&P 500.
Chevron climbed 1.3% after saying it had completed its acquisition of Hess. The buyout got its go-ahead following a favorable arbitration ruling in Paris about some of Hess' assets off Guyana's coast.
Stronger-than-expected profit reports for the spring also helped several stocks to rally. Charles Schwab climbed 4.4%, and Comerica rose 2.3%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased ahead of a report coming Friday morning about how U.S. consumers are feeling about the economy and about inflation.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 4.42% from 4.47% late Thursday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its short-term rates, also dropped. It fell to 3.86% from 3.91%.
A top Fed official, Gov. Chris Waller, said late Thursday that the Fed should cut its overnight interest rate as soon as its next meeting in a couple weeks. That follows sharp criticism from President Donald Trump, who has been castigating the Fed for holding interest rates steady this year instead of cutting them, as it did late last year.
Lower rates could give the economy a boost, and Trump has also implied they could help the U.S. government save money on its debt payments, though that's uncertain. The interest rates Washington has to pay on its longer-term debt can depend more on what bond investors think than on what the Fed does, and they can even move in opposite directions.
The chair of the Fed, meanwhile, has been insisting that he wants to see more data about how Trump's tariffs will affect the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move. The downside of lower interest rates is that they can give inflation more fuel, and prices may already be starting to feel the upward effects of tariffs.
Traders on Wall Street still think it's more likely that the Fed will resume cutting interest rates in September, rather than later this month, according to data from CME Group.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.4%, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.2% ahead of an election for the upper house of parliament on Sunday that could wipe out the ruling coalition's upper house majority.
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Nahar Net
11 hours ago
- Nahar Net
For hope on climate change, UN chief is putting his faith in market forces
by Naharnet Newsdesk 23 July 2025, 16:16 For nearly a decade United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been using science to warn about evermore dangerous climate change in increasingly urgent tones. Now he's enlisting something seemingly more important to the world's powerful: Money. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Guterres hailed the power of market forces in what he repeatedly called "a battle" to save the planet. He pointed to two new UN reports showing the plummeting cost of solar and wind power and the growing generation and capacity of those green energy sources. He warned those who cling to fossil fuels that they could go broke doing it. "Science and the economy show the way," Guterres said in a 20-minute interview in his 38th-floor conference room overlooking the New York skyline. "What we need is the political will to take the decisions that are necessary in regulatory frameworks, in financial aspects, in other policy dimensions. Governments need to take decisions not to be an obstacle to the natural trend to accelerate the renewables transition." That means by the end of the fall governments need to come up with new plans to fight climate change that are compatible with the global goal of limiting warming and ones that apply to the their entire economy and include all greenhouse gases, Guterres said. But don't expect one from the United States. President Donald Trump has pulled out of the landmark Paris climate agreement, slashed efforts to boost renewable energy and made fossil fuels a priority, including the dirtiest one in terms of climate and health, coal. "Obviously, the (Trump) administration in itself is an obstacle, but there are others. The government in the U.S. doesn't control everything," Guterres said. Sure, Trump pulled out of the Paris accord, but many states and cities are trying to live up to the Biden administration's climate-saving goals by reducing the burning of coal, oil and natural gas that release heat-trapping gases, Guterres said. Invest in fossil fuels, risk stranded assets? "People do not want to lose money. People do not want to make investments in what will become stranded assets," Guterres said. "And I believe that even in the United States, we will go on seeing a reduction of emissions, I have no doubt about it." He said any new investments in exploring for new fossil fuel deposits "will be totally lost" and called them "just a waste of money." "I'm perfectly convinced that we will never be able, in the history of humankind, to spend all the oil and gas that was already discovered," Guterres said. But amid the hope of the renewable reports, Guterres said the world is still losing its battle on climate change, in danger of permanently passing 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degree Fahrenheit) warming since preindustrial times. That threshold is what the Paris agreement set up as a hoped-for global limit to warming 10 years ago. Many scientists have already pronounced the 1.5 threshold dead. Indeed, 2024 passed that mark, though scientists say it requires a 20-year average, not a single year, to consider the threshold breached. A scientific study from researchers who often work with the U.N. last month said the world is spewing so much carbon dioxide that sometime in early 2028, a couple years earlier than once predicted, passing the 1.5 mark will become scientifically inevitable. Guterres: 'We need to go on fighting' even as it looks bleak Guterres hasn't given up on the 1.5 degree goal yet, though he said it looks bad. "We see the acceleration of different aspects of climate change., rising seas, glaciers melting, heat waves, storms of different kinds," he said. "We need to go on fighting," he said. "I think we are on the right side of history." Guterres, who spoke to AP after addressing the U.N. Security Council on the Israeli occupation of Gaza, said there's only one way to solve that seemingly intractable issue: An immediate ceasefire, a release of all remaining hostages, access for humanitarian relief and "paving the way for a serious political process leading to the two-state solution. Some people say the two-state solution is now becoming extremely difficult. Even some saying it's impossible. But the question is, what is the alternative?" Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are all crises, Guterres said, but climate change is an existential problem for the entire planet. And he said people don't realize how climate-caused droughts and extreme weather can feed poverty and terrorism. He pointed to the Sahel as an example. "We see that people live in worse and worse conditions, less and less capacity to grow their crops, less and less capital," he said. "And this is largely due to climate change." "Everything is interlinked: Climate change, artificial intelligence, geopolitical divides, the problems of inequality and injustice," Guterres said. "And we need to make sure that we make progress in all of them at the same time."


Nahar Net
11 hours ago
- Nahar Net
Trump announces trade deal with Japan
by Naharnet Newsdesk 23 July 2025, 11:38 President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. "This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it," Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States "will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan." The president said Japan would invest "at my direction" $550 billion into the U.S. and would "open" its economy to American autos and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1. Early Wednesday, Ishiba acknowledged the new trade agreement, saying it would benefit both sides and help them work together. With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker — even as his tariffs, when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the U.S. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear. The wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs. The problem was seen sharply Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35% drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble. As the Aug. 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19% on its goods, while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19% tariffs on Indonesia. The U.S. ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau. America had a trade imbalance of $17.9 billion with Indonesia and an imbalance of $4.9 billion with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the U.S. and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them. The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on Aug. 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks. "We have Europe coming in tomorrow, the next day," Trump told guests. The president earlier this month sent a letter threatening the 27 member states in the EU with 30% taxes on their goods to be imposed starting on Aug. 1. The Trump administration has a separate negotiating period with China that is currently set to run through Aug. 12 as goods from that nation are taxed at an additional 30% baseline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would be in the Swedish capital of Stockholm next Monday and Tuesday to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Bessent said his goal is to shift the American economy away from consumption and to enable more consumer spending in the manufacturing-heavy Chinese economy. "President Trump is remaking the U.S. into a manufacturing economy," Bessent said on the Fox Business Network show "Mornings with Maria." "If we could do that together, we do more manufacturing, they do more consumption. That would be a home run for the global economy."


Nahar Net
11 hours ago
- Nahar Net
US to impose 19% tariff on imports from Philippines in deal struck with Marcos
President Donald Trump said he has reached a trade agreement with Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr., following a meeting Tuesday at the White House, that will see the U.S. slightly drop its tariff rate for the Philippines without paying import taxes for what it sells there. Trump revealed the broad terms of the agreement on his social media network and said the U.S. and the Philippines would work together militarily. The announcement of a loose framework of a deal comes as the two countries are seeking closer security and economic ties in the face of shifting geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region. Marcos' government indicated ahead of the meeting that he was prepared to offer zero tariffs on some U.S. goods to strike a deal with Trump. The Philippine Embassy did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Marcos' three-day visit to Washington shows the importance of the alliance between the treaty partners as China is increasingly assertive in the South China Sea, where Manila and Beijing have clashed over the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal. Washington sees Beijing, the world's No. 2 economy, as its biggest competitor, and consecutive presidential administrations have sought to shift U.S. military and economic focus to the Asia-Pacific in a bid to counter China. Trump, like others before him, has been distracted by efforts to broker peace in a range of conflicts, from Ukraine to Gaza. Trump announces a trade deal with the Philippines Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. would impose a 19% tariff rate on the Philippines, down from a 20% tariff he threatened starting Aug. 1. In return, he said, the Philippines would have an open market and the U.S. would not pay tariffs. Marcos described the lower 19% tariff rate to reporters in Washington as a "significant achievement" in real terms. He said his country was considering options such as having an open market without tariffs for U.S. automobiles, but emphasized details were still left to be worked out. When asked whether the Philippines got the shorter end of the stick, Marcos said, "that's how negotiations go." Without further details on the agreement, it's unclear how it will impact their countries' economies. Trump wrote that Marcos' visit was "beautiful," and it was a "Great Honor" to host such a "very good, and tough, negotiator." Appearing before reporters in the Oval Office ahead of their private meeting, Marcos spoke warmly of the ties between the two nations. "This has evolved into as important a relationship as is possible to have," said Marcos, the first Southeast Asian leader to hold talks with Trump in his second term. Trump, as he does in many of his appearances, veered off topic as he fielded questions from reporters. In response to a question about his Justice Department's decision to interview Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Trump repeated falsehoods about his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and the Russia investigation during his first term, along with comments about targeting adversaries such as former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "After what they did to me, whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people," Trump said. Relations with China are top of mind When asked how he plans to balance his country's relationships between the U.S. and China, Marcos said there was no need to balance "because our foreign policy is an independent one." "Our strongest partner has always been the United States," said Marcos, whose country is one of the oldest U.S. treaty allies in the Pacific region. On Tuesday, when asked about the U.S. defense commitment to the Philippines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said, "Whatever cooperation the U.S. and the Philippines have, it should not target or harm any third party, still less incite confrontation and heighten tensions in the region." China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have been involved in long-unresolved territorial conflicts in the South China Sea, a busy shipping passage for global trade. The Chinese coast guard has repeatedly used water cannons to hit Filipino boats in the South China Sea. China accused those vessels of entering the waters illegally or encroaching on its territory. Marcos also met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week. At the Pentagon on Monday, Marcos told Hegseth that the assurance to come to each other's mutual defense "continues to be the cornerstone of that relationship." He said the cooperation has deepened since Hegseth's March visit to Manila, including joint exercises and U.S. support in modernizing the Philippines' armed forces. Marcos thanked the U.S. for support "that we need in the face of the threats that we, our country, is facing." Hegseth told a security forum in Singapore in May that China poses a threat and the U.S. is "reorienting toward deterring aggression by Communist China." The U.S., however, has endeavored to keep communication open with Beijing. Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met this month on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations regional forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They agreed to explore "areas of potential cooperation" and stressed the importance of managing differences. When hosting Marcos, Trump said a visit to China is "not too distant," suggesting it is possible he could travel there soon. Trump touted U.S.-China relations but said Manila is independent in its dealings with Beijing. "Do whatever you need to do," Trump told Marcos. "But your dealing with China wouldn't bother me at all."