
Can YKK's Zipper Empire Hold?
YKK has spent decades mastering the global supply chain. Now it has to weather the Trump-tariff era.
July 21, 2025 at 12:01 AM EDT
In early February, executives from YKK, the world's largest zipper manufacturer, gathered in Kurobe, Japan, for annual budget meetings. Normally, these gatherings leave time for a bit of schmoozing—karaoke, dinner with old friends, that sort of thing. This year was less freewheeling as it became clear the meetings were an informal referendum on whether global trade was about to come undone. Scarcely two weeks into his second term, President Donald Trump had already announced 25% tariffs on goods entering the US from Colombia, only to rescind the measure. Next came tariffs amounting to 20% on goods from China, 25% on goods from Canada and Mexico, and 25% on all imported steel, aluminum and automobiles. Canada and Mexico got a one-month reprieve; the rest were set to go into effect.
Blizzard conditions made YKK's Kurobe campus look as if it were nested inside a freshly shaken snow globe. Situated on the opposite stretch of coastline from Tokyo, where YKK has its world headquarters, Kurobe remains the beating heart of the company: It's home to a secretive research and development facility, along with one of the more than 500 YKK factories around the world, which bind countless supply chains. The billions of zippers YKK makes each year are used by iconic brands such as Levi's and Adidas; fast-fashion giants like H&M, Zara and Shein; and gorpcore pioneers Patagonia, the North Face and Arc'teryx, along with niche competitors like Swedish outfitter Klättermusen. YKK supplies roughly 40% of the global apparel industry, and besides that, it makes zippers for purses, luggage, sleeping bags, tents and many other types of equipment and accessories. That's just the zippers. The company has spent decades developing anything that might qualify as a fastener (the original English word for 'zipper,' and the one still used in Japanese). Automakers use YKK's Velcro-like hook-and-loop system to keep upholstery attached to car seats. Makers of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines use a similar YKK product to keep their devices' breathing apparatus in place while sleep apnea sufferers toss and turn in the night. A snap-on YKK 'medical stud' connects electrodes to the electrocardiography machines that monitor a patient's heartbeat in hospital rooms whose window fittings and sliding door mechanisms are also made, more often than not, by YKK.
YKK Global Net Sales
In Japanese yen
Strictly speaking, most of the executives visiting Kurobe in February were representatives of affiliate companies. YKK effectively operates as 112 separate branches doing business in 70 countries under the umbrella of YKK Group, a privately held corporation that raked in $6.9 billion in revenue during the 12-month period ended on March 31, according to company figures. This structure gives YKK's top leaders a unique view of where global manufacturing is headed; through the rise and fall of orders from the company's thousands of corporate customers worldwide, they can predict the outlook for entire industries and plan budgets and production accordingly. They also have long experience adapting to world events, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, China's accession to the World Trade Organization, the Covid-19 pandemic and more. But their accrued wisdom applies to a rulebook Trump routinely ignores.
By early February, it was clear to Jim Reed, president of YKK Corp. of America, that his colleagues in Japan were concerned things might be different this time. ' Colombia was certainly a curveball,' he told me near the tail end of the meetings. 'Before any of us even had time to write a report, it was over.' There wasn't much to be done in the short term had they wanted to: YKK's customers, particularly those in the apparel industry, would have little room to adjust production. 'Fall/winter '25 is underway,' Reed said of the industry's production schedule. 'So there's really not an opportunity to say: 'Instead of sending a zipper to this country, let's send it to that country in order to avoid the tariff.' No supply chains can really react to that kind of whipsawing adjustment.'
Reed said he'd cautioned his colleagues against any sudden response to Trump's first volley, even though his territory stood a good chance of being among those hardest hit. His sense was that Trump had targeted Canada and Mexico 'with the intention of making a lot of noise, impressing his base and then being able to move on, or maybe even make a big show of it for China to see.' Reed said he couldn't imagine why Trump would go against '10 out of 10 economists' and corporate executives at powerful retailers such as Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., all to risk being blamed for the inflation that was sure to result if the sort of wide-scale tariffs the president proposed actually went into effect.
To show how vulnerable US manufacturers would be in the event of an all-out trade war with Mexico and Canada, Reed explained the back-and-forth border crossings necessary for getting YKK's hook-and-loop system inside American car seats. 'The upholstery industry is in Mexico, so we sew the loop in Mexico,' he said. 'We sell the loop to vendors who sew it onto the upholstery in Mexico, then that upholstery gets shipped to Mexico, Canada and the United States, where it waits for the seats to arrive.' The seats themselves often come from China. Meanwhile, the hook portion—the nonfuzzy half of the Velcro-like system—is made by YKK in the US using raw materials procured from Indonesia, Brazil and elsewhere. From there the hook side goes to seat manufacturers in Canada and the US so it can be installed. 'Those naked seats get shipped to other factories in Canada and the United States, where the upholstery meets the naked seat and the hook meets the loop,' he continued. 'And then those finished seats go to Canada, the US and Mexico, where the automakers install the seats into the cars.' So, even in the best-case scenario, either the hook or the loop would incur at least one tariff charge before meeting inside a car seat whose other constituent parts could well be subject to separate tariffs of their own, along with the finished car seat itself, depending on where it was installed.
In an interview at YKK's headquarters a few weeks later, the company's then-chairman and chief executive officer, Masayuki Sarumaru, offered me his view. 'It is not predictable, that's the biggest concern,' he said. We were speaking in an atrium overlooking a freeway that cuts through the city's Akihabara neighborhood. Sarumaru was months away from retirement after a half-century career with YKK, which he joined straight out of college. Dressed in a crisp, dark suit and flanked by a half-dozen subordinates, he told me that in five decades he'd never seen a crisis so dire or destabilizing that top executives couldn't put their heads together and figure it out. In the past, 'through combined experience, you could foresee what's coming, somehow,' he said. 'But this time, I've no idea what's going to happen.'
Not long after we spoke, Trump's 30-day pause expired, and the North American tariffs went into effect, followed swiftly by the first volley of retaliatory tariffs from Canada. The reshuffling of global manufacturing hierarchies was starting to look real. And with that came an unprecedented threat to a key supply chain for the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the houses we live in and the medical equipment doctors use to determine if we're alive or dead.
Yoshida Kōgyō Kabushikigaisha, or Yoshida Manufacturing Corp., was founded by Tadao Yoshida in Tokyo in 1934. Its signature product, the slide fastener, had first been produced by Universal Fastener Co. in New Jersey in 1893, as a means of closing up boots. The American company's initial design sold poorly, however, and didn't evolve into a modern zipper until 1913, when a Swedish American engineer improved on it. After the US entered World War I, the government placed large orders with the company, which eventually became Talon International Inc., for zippers to be used in aviation suits and life vests.
When Yoshida first came across the slide fastener in the early 1930s while working in the import and export business, it was still a novelty in the fashion world. He was convinced of its potential, however, given Japan's embrace of Western-style clothing in place of the belted kimono. For years he made YKK zippers by hand, hammering down the individual 'elements' (what most of us would call the teeth). In 1950 he imported four expensive chain machines to automate this part of the process. The shift improved the quality of YKK's zippers enough to distinguish them from others on the Japanese market, which were thought to be cheap and disposable.
Five years later, Yoshida packed up his machinery and moved the company to resource-rich Kurobe, which allowed him to build up YKK's production processes and start making everything in one place. He'd also begun traveling the world, looking in places as far-flung as Singapore and Caracas for products his fasteners could help bind together and for ways to improve his processes. When the Korean War caused the price of zinc and copper to soar, YKK developed a durable alloy called aluminum 56S, for use not just in zippers but also in window pane sashes like the ones Yoshida had seen coming off an assembly line during his visit to a US factory. Those sashes were behind his decision to open YKK's first architectural products factory, in Kurobe in 1959.
The following year, the company opened a US subsidiary in New York, which operated a small factory and warehouse in Manhattan's Garment District. 'We had many customers and many wholesalers there,' said Sarumaru. 'Now it's all fancy stores or offices … but in the late '70s, workers were sewing the garments, making the garments right there.' At the time roughly three-quarters of the apparel sold in the US was domestically produced, and YKK sought to capture as much market share as possible from its American rival Talon. The company opened branches in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston to pursue customers in the high-fashion sector. New facilities in Texas and Georgia focused on supplying jeans manufacturers, and ones in Chicago and Los Angeles targeted workwear and outerwear makers, respectively.
In May, I visited YKK's 250-acre campus in Macon, the largest of its operations in Georgia. The roads connecting each of the seven massive buildings on the property were lined with cherry trees whose blossoms had grown full and pink in the spring sunshine. One of these buildings houses a foundry that makes brass for the zippers produced there. Another hosts an architectural products factory that makes door and window systems using aluminum alloys produced at a separate facility in Dublin, Georgia; executives expect it will insulate the company from some effects of Trump's aluminum tariff. And still another has a plant manufacturing enough zippers each year to encircle the Earth two-and-a-half times if laid end to end.
My tour guide was Tom Munns, who supervises a group of workers who maintain a fleet of custom-made machinery YKK leases out to its customers. (The company wouldn't grant me full access to production areas where zippers are actually made, citing a recent policy change inspired in part by concerns over corporate espionage.) I'd originally learned from Alex Gregory —who started at YKK's first Georgia factory in January 1974 and served as the first non-Japanese president and CEO of YKK Corp. of America from 2001 to 2004—how the leasing business works. 'We don't sell a company like Levi's individually cut zippers,' said Gregory, who's been retired since 2008 but still sits on the board of YKK of America's architectural products division. 'They will buy what's called a continuous chain, which is 300 feet of zippers that are continuous, and then they decide how long they want the zipper to be. It might be 5 ½ or 6 inches, or whatever, and then the machine cuts the zipper to the right length and installs it in the jeans.'
In a spacious concrete corridor at YKK's Field Technology Center in Macon, Munns showed me how this machinery works. He started with the first piece of equipment the company began leasing to apparel makers like Levi Strauss & Co. in 1978: a relatively small machine, roughly the size of a table saw in a suburban home wood shop, which is fed a length of continuous chain—basically a strip of cloth a bit wider than a thumb, with a solid strip of metal running down its center—and cuts the metal strip so the teeth are punched out; a second machine roughly the same size takes the cloth, which has already been cut to the appropriate length, and adds a slider and a bottom stop to complete the zipper so it can be sewed onto a garment. Next, Munns showed me the AutoLine, developed by YKK in 1984, which combined and streamlined the processes done by the first two machines. 'That's what got us 100% of Levi's business, and Lee's business, and other jeans manufacturers,' Munns said. Instead of nine skilled workers the AutoLine required just two unskilled workers to operate. 'They saw this, and the competition didn't have it.'
The focus on equipment was initially a cost-saving measure. YKK had long struggled to price its zippers competitively against rivals like Talon, before it realized that it would cut down on its labor costs to have customers buy continuous chains and turn them into individual zippers at their own factories. The machinery also only works with YKK products, Munns pointed out, so an apparel manufacturer 'couldn't switch to a competitor without changing the way they do things in a pretty significant way.' Apparel manufacturers, meanwhile, gained tremendous flexibility, allowing them to make what they needed when they needed it rather than stockpile precut zippers in every possible size and color.
In the decade after YKK began leasing out machinery, annual sales went from less than $100 million to about $450 million. Around this time, in the late '80s, according to Sarumaru, the company stopped 'playing catch-up games' and at last seized market dominance from Talon. When NAFTA went into force in 1994 and apparel manufacturers began migrating even more of their facilities out of the US, YKK of America was poised to adapt; the iconic brass zippers used for Levi's jeans, for example, started traveling from Macon to a factory in Mexico rather than to one in San Antonio. YKK also doubled down on investments in equipment, furthering its grip on apparel manufacturing to the south as maquiladora operators sought to increase automation and cut labor costs even further. According to Gregory, executives from one major clothing company told him they saw productivity increase by as much as 20% after switching to YKK's machinery.
The enduring importance of YKK's equipment-leasing business became obvious during my tour of a factory floor in Macon, where it seemed at a glance as though more workers were busy maintaining and refurbishing this machinery than producing the zippers they would use it to install. Whenever workers came and went from the zipper manufacturing line that I was forbidden from touring, I could see through the saloon-style doors just a few conductors for a mechanical orchestra emitting endless strands of zippers bound for Mexico or Central America.
'Who knows the market?
Who knows the customers?
Who knows the society?
Not headquarters'
Soon after Gregory became CEO of YKK of America, he realized the company was heading for a crisis: Revenue from the US apparel industry that it had wrested away from Talon was suddenly evaporating. China's accession to the WTO in 2001 had established a framework for other member states to take advantage of the country's low labor costs without worrying about what might become of their investments. The Chinese government's incentives and assurances helped make it the preferred place to outsource clothes manufacturing. 'In 1999 we were providing zippers to 99 jeans manufacturing companies, primarily in the Southeast,' Gregory told me. 'By 2004 or 2005 they were all gone.'
His arm of YKK was unprofitable by 2003, he said. 'And here I am, the first non-Japanese president of a region, and we were in trouble, and the company depended on us to fix it somehow.'
YKK's management philosophy gives local executives an unusual degree of autonomy in finding solutions for major issues. Treating affiliates as, in a sense, independent local operators helps YKK adapt whenever conditions change. This both helps keep it rooted in the places where it operates and minimizes disruptions to the other links in its worldwide supply chain. As Sarumaru said to me: 'Who knows the market? Who knows the customers? Who knows the society? Not headquarters.'
Gregory's solution to YKK of America's ills was to tap some of the significant resources its parent company dedicates to R&D: Each year, Sarumaru told me, this expenditure comes to roughly 5% of its total operating budget. In normal times, that money has fueled innovations such as watertight and airtight zippers, initially for divers and astronauts, then deployed commercially in raincoats and ski jackets. Gregory decided to go broad, dedicating vast sums, for one unprofitable year after another, to figuring out how factories that had spent decades producing zippers for jeans and apparel might be rededicated to making fasteners for other products that were still being made in the Americas. Sales and marketing people were paired with product development engineers and assigned to explore specific industries. One team, Gregory told me, 'we sent to Novi, Michigan, and we said: 'Go become experts in the automotive industry.' And now a typical car in Atlanta, Georgia, will have 15 or 20 products made by YKK in Macon, Georgia. We work with every automobile manufacturer.'
HQ was doing its part too. The decimation of America's apparel manufacturing industry inspired YKK to create a new global marketing team whose job is to constantly connect the dots between events, trends and existing infrastructure, so that whatever forces dent earnings in one region can be harnessed for profit in another. Its work has become increasingly important as supply chains have grown simultaneously more complicated and more vulnerable.
Teppei Fujimaki, who worked in the sales department for YKK in Bangladesh from 2017 until 2020, during Trump's first term, told me the company's global marketing team was able to project for him in advance, based on how far orders had slipped in China, just how much his team would need to increase capacity to prepare for Bangladesh's subsequent boom in apparel manufacturing. The transition was painless, and from an accounting perspective, it amounted to little more than the shifting of profits from one column in YKK's Asia ledger to another.
Brian La Plante, a senior sustainability manager for YKK, suggested to me that Trump's first term, which accelerated trends like ' friendshoring ' manufacturing out of China and into markets like Vietnam and Bangladesh, showed how the breadth of the company's operations made it especially adaptable. 'Everybody's talking about tariffs, but all that is just moving around the different cones from one place to another place,' La Plante said. 'We're not talking about reducing apparel production. We're not talking about reducing the number of units that people are creating. We're just talking about where they're going to come from in the future. It doesn't matter whether it's Bangladesh, Vietnam, South America, we have facilities that will perhaps gain some business because of those shifts, and some that may lose some business because of those shifts. But it's not going to impact us overall.'
YKK of America's director of supply chain management, Kozue Childress, said the pandemic, too, had offered lessons for the company. Previously, it tended to stockpile inventory that was already painted and branded for specific clients, which then couldn't be repurposed for others who needed fasteners when their regular supply chains were disrupted. 'We learned that it is important to carry what we call natural material, without any painting or branding, so anytime a customer needs to have a certain color we can paint it and ship it,' Childress said.
When talk turned to how all this might play out in Trump's second term, Childress optimistically cast it as an 'opportunity' for a company as resilient as YKK. She cited as one example the possibility that the company might leverage its brass wire manufacturing plant in Macon. This was months before Trump's recent announcement of a 50% tariff on copper, which could make YKK an attractive option for North American buyers looking to avoid extra costs imposed on imported brass.
Others I spoke with weren't quite so focused on the potential upside of Trump's tariffs. One concern raised by Reed, the current YKK Corp. of America president, was that long-term investment would dry up in markets deemed vulnerable to tariffs. 'When you create instability, it stops capital investment,' he said. 'So I'm not sure it has a huge impact on day-to-day orders or even month-to-month orders. It may not even have that big of an impact on quarterly orders. But it will have a huge impact on somebody who says, 'I was just about to break ground on a factory.' '
'Our global supply chains are extremely interconnected, and you're pulling on strings, you don't even know what they're connected to'
Another concern is that Trump damages consumer confidence badly enough to cut demand for the products YKK helps make. In some divisions, there are signs this is already happening. 'The tariff initiatives from the new administration have most certainly had an impact on our business,' Oliver Stepe, CEO of YKK of America's architectural products division, told me in March, citing the aluminum, steel and Canada tariffs in particular. 'We are already seeing a slowdown in business activity in our building materials markets.'
Reed's view was ultimately that Trump's tariffs would prove less consequential to YKK's business than the creation of the European Union, the implementation of NAFTA and China's inclusion in the WTO were. 'The global supply chains are established, and no nation has the ability to make everything it needs by itself—not even China,' he said.
Even so, he was watching the machinations with China, in particular. The Chinese government, he cautioned, has a number of options for crippling manufacturing capacity in the US and elsewhere. 'Our global supply chains are extremely interconnected, and you're pulling on strings, you don't even know what they're connected to,' he said. 'Then there's retaliations.'
Reed invited me to imagine a scenario dire enough to threaten even a company as ostensibly adaptable to tariffs as YKK. 'For a modern manufacturing facility in the United States to have been successful, it will have taken advantage of more sophisticated Chinese manufacturing equipment that has been developed over the last 10 years,' he said. 'So let's say we put a 200% tariff on Chinese stuff, and China can say, 'OK, I know this part goes into 80% of all US manufacturing equipment, so we're just going to no longer provide that part.' '
The result, he concluded, could be devastating: 'All of a sudden, you have hamstrung US manufacturing.'
Reed's words proved prescient in April, when China suspended exports of rare-earth minerals and magnets crucial for the aerospace, semiconductor and automobile industries. Soon after, Chinese fast-fashion behemoth Shein announced it would raise prices for US customers starting on April 25 to reflect 'recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs.' Both moves are likely to reverberate at opposite ends of YKK's bottom line, affecting its high-margin products as well as the low-margin trade in fast-fashion zippers. Meanwhile, as Trump wins minor concessions, such as nonbinding oil and gas deals whose economic fundamentals are undermined by tariff-induced price volatility, the rest of the world has signaled through op-eds and political speeches and trade talks a willingness to consider some kind of ex-America globalization.
During my visit to Macon, I'd seen how YKK had taken five-decade-old factories built to make zippers for clothes and repurposed them to produce fasteners for automobiles and medical equipment. The company's reach in modern American life is so deep that I could connect this arc to my own. In all likelihood, I realized, someone in Macon had made the zipper for the first pair of jeans I owned as a boy growing up in Alaska. Maybe they'll help make pieces for the monitor that might sit beside my hospital bed someday.
Products like zippers blow into and out of our lives so easily that they seem almost like natural phenomena. But the supply chains bringing them in are fickle and dependent on a miraculous degree of insight, sensitivity and cooperation. Alex Gregory told me a statistic I found shocking: From 1974 to 2000, some 1 million apparel manufacturing jobs were lost in the US. No one in the industry sincerely believes they'll come back; the numbers don't add up and probably never will, because globalization has conditioned the average American consumer to want what the average American worker cannot provide. Trump's refusal to accept this seems less likely to bring back US apparel manufacturing jobs than to diminish the US auto industry as well—and with it, one more part of YKK's empire, unless its executives can once again adapt. What might get made in Macon instead is, for the moment, difficult to imagine.
More On Bloomberg
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stock market today: S&P 500 clears 5th-straight record, Nasdaq hits fresh high as earnings, trade hopes bolster stocks
US stocks rose Friday, pushing the S&P 500 to its fifth-straight record this week and lifting the Nasdaq to a new all-time high. Earnings and trade optimism boosted investor sentiment, while President Trump eased market nerves by downplaying talk of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced nearly 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped 0.5%. All three major gauges rose more than 1% for the week. Spirits on Wall Street got a lift this week from a US-Japan trade pact that boosted optimism for more deals, while blue-chip and Big Tech results underpinned a solid start to earnings season. But some on Wall Street are questioning whether FOMO — "fear of missing out" — is driving gains, rather than fundamentals. Investors may now be locking in profits ahead of a big week bringing the Fed's two-day policy meeting, the monthly US jobs report, and a flood of quarterly results highlighted by Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META). Most of all, it features the Aug. 1 deadline for countries to strike trade deals with the US or face "reciprocal" tariff hikes. Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs But the pact with Japan may already be under pressure, even as the US reportedly closes in on a deal with the European Union. Reports suggest the two sides don't see eye-to-eye on how to share profits from a $550 billion fund for US investment planned as part of the deal. Meanwhile, at home, Trump has downplayed the risk of Powell being ousted as Fed chair, easing market concerns about upheaval at the central bank. The president visited the Fed's headquarters on Thursday to tour its $2.5 billion renovation project. During an awkward exchange, Trump criticized the project as too expensive, sparking speculation he might use it as a pretext to try to fire Powell. However, Trump indicated he wasn't considering firing the Fed chair. Read more: Full earnings coverage in our live blog S&P 500 notches 5th consecutive record, Nasdaq closes at all-time high Stocks notched fresh records on Friday as trade optimism grew, and Trump once again backed off the threat of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an awkward exchange at the Fed headquarters. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4% to close at a record high for a fifth consecutive session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also advanced nearly 0.3% to notch a fresh record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.5%, just about 100 points shy of its own record high. Big Tech players will continue to report earnings next week, including Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META). On the trade front, President Trump put the odds of a deal with the EU at a 50-50 chance after clinching an agreement with Japan earlier this week. Trump's deadline for US trade partners to strike trade deals or else face a hike in tariff rates lands next Friday, Aug. 1. Investors will be watching the Fed's two-day policy meeting next week after Trump and Powell had an awkward exchange during the president's visit of the central banks $2.5 billion renovation site on Thursday. Crypto takes a breather, pulls back following massive rally Bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank 2% to hover above $116,000 per token on Friday, taking a breather from a massive recent rally. Ethereum (ETH-USD) also declined following a massive rally in the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. This rally followed the President's signing of the Genius Act a week ago, legislation aimed at regulating stablecoins, or digital tokens backed by assets like the US dollar and short-term treasuries. Is AI taking new grads' jobs? Not so fast. Yahoo Finances Emma Ockerman: Read more here. Speculative frenzy raises risk of stock market downturn: Goldman Sachs Investors beware. With the S&P 500 (^GSPC) at all-time highs, some on Wall Street are warning that a rise in speculative trades could increase the risk of a market pullback. Goldman Sachs analysts said their Speculative Trading Indicator has risen sharply during the past few months. The gauge now sits at its highest level on record, outside of the 1998-2001 dot-com bubble era and 2020-2021 during COVID, though it still remains well below those peaks. The indicator shows an elevated recent share of trading volumes in unprofitable stocks, penny stocks, and stocks with rich valuations compared to revenue. Apart from "Magnificent Seven" heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA), some of the stocks with the highest trading volumes over the past month include speculative plays like (BBAI), Lucid (LCID), and Plug Power (PLUG). "The recent rise in speculative trading activity signals near-term upside risk for the broad equity market but also increases the risk of an eventual downturn," Goldman's Ben Snider and his team wrote on Thursday. Read more here. Oil slides on potential supply increase as US allows Chevron to pump in Venezuela Oil declined on Friday after reports that the US restored permission for oil giant Chevron (CVX) to pump in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) declined about 1% while Brent (BZ=F) futures slid 0.7% to hover above $68 per barrel. The permission to operate in the sanctioned country appears to be a U-turn from the Trump administration's prior license revocation, aimed at applying pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The reinstatement allowing Chevron to resume limited oil production — first reported by Reuters and Bloomberg — followed a deal between Washington and Caracas to release 10 detained Americans in exchange for the repatriation of 250 Venezuelans held in El Salvador. President Trump has expressed his desire to lower energy prices, and Chevron's ability to pump oil there will bring additional supply into the market. For Chevron, the 'development helps remove another uncertainty from what was a long list to start the year,' Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told Yahoo Finance. The recent arbitration ruling in favor of Chevron's right to Hess's oil stake in Guyana as part of a broader acquisition has been a positive catalyst for the company. 'While this latest issue is less material, it still matters — it will generate additional cash flow for investors,' Thummel said. Volkswagen sales show tariff sting German auto giant Volkswagen (VWAGY) is feeling the effects of President Trump's tariff policy, Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports. Subramanian writes: Read the full story here. Broadcom on track for fresh record as it outperforms 'Magnificent Seven' stocks Broadcom (AVGO) stock was on track to hit another high Friday after closing at a record $288.71 on Thursday, up fractionally to just over $289. Broadcom has largely outperformed the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks over the past year, with shares up more than 25% in 2025 and 94% over the last 12 months. Shares also hit an all-time intraday high above $291 on Thursday. So far this year, the only Magnificent Seven stock to outperform Broadcom is Nvidia (NVDA), which is up 30% after a wild turnaround in the first half of the year. On a 12-month basis, Broadcom still takes the lead, with Nvidia shares up 55% in that time frame. While Broadcom's market capitalization still trails most of the Magnificent Seven, its $1.36 trillion market cap is higher than Tesla's (TSLA) roughly $1 trillion market value, as the EV maker has struggled amid CEO Elon Musk's string of controversies and challenged vehicle sales. Charter Communications plummets most in history after Q2 earnings miss Charter Communications stock plummeted as much as 18.5% Friday after the telecom giant — which offers cable TV and internet services through its Spectrum brand — reported second quarter earnings below expectations. That's the biggest drop in the stock's history. The company Friday reported adjusted earnings per share of $9.18, below the $9.82 expected, while revenue of $13.766 billion was marginally below the $13.768 billion expected. The company said in an earnings call Friday morning that it lost 117,000 residential and small business Internet customers in the quarter, compared to about 100,000 in the year ago period. Wall Street weighs Intel earnings: The 'road to recovery is long & uncertain' Wall Street remained skeptical of Intel (INTC) after the company left the future of its manufacturing business unclear during an earnings call late Thursday. Intel stock dropped Friday despite its financial results beating expectations. 'While the headline numbers look decent vs expectations, we don't think the numbers really mattered all that much,' Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note to clients Friday, saying instead that investors are focused on Intel's manufacturing roadmap. Intel, once a leading global chipmaker, has fallen behind its rivals, both with its own products and in its attempt to manufacture chips for outside customers. Truist analyst William Stein said, 'The road to recovery is long & uncertain' for Intel. That's because Intel had promised that its new manufacturing process, 18A, would bring in external customers to its cash-bleeding manufacturing business, which its former CEO Pat Gelsinger launched in 2021. Now, Intel says it will use 18A only for internal products, reaching peak production at the beginning of the next decade, and that it could 'potentially' get 'external customers at some point,' as CFO David Zinsner put it. Meanwhile, Intel also left the future of its successor to 18A, the manufacturing process it calls 14A, unclear and contingent upon it getting an external customer on board. Analysts and former Intel executives said it's crucial for the company to prove it can execute 18A to draw in outside customers to use its manufacturing business in what's known as a foundry. 'We raise concern on future competitiveness of both Products and Foundry, driven by constant roadmap changes, employee churn, as well as reduced investments in future products/nodes — pivotal in l-t [long term] market share and positioning,' Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya wrote. Crypto stocks fall as dollar moves higher Crypto stocks fell Friday — save for Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal (PYPL). The largest corporate holder of bitcoin, Strategy (MSTR), dropped 2.5%, while crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell 2% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) dipped 2.6%. Riot Platforms (RIOT) declined 3.6%. The moves come as the US Dollar ( strengthens amid news surrounding US trade deals and as President Trump backed off from firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an unusual visit to the Federal Reserve. Stocks crawl higher at the open US stocks inched higher, near all-time highs, at the open on Friday after a week of major earnings and trade deals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked up around 0.15%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose just over 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded just above the flat line. Dollar gains steam after Trump downplays clash with Fed Chair Powell The US dollar ( strengthened on Friday morning after President Trump downplayed a clash with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday that was part of an unusual visit to survey the Fed's building renovations. The visit came after several weeks of Trump criticizing Powell and, at one point, threatening to fire him. Trump told reporters on Friday, "I don't want to be personal" and said that the Fed visit was about helping finish the project. Later, Trump said of firing Powell: "To do that is a big move, and I just don't think it's necessary." Meanwhile, gold futures (GC=F) declined about 1% to trade at $3,341.90 per ounce as concerns about Fed independence eased. Phillips 66 stock rises after beating profit estimates on higher refining margins Phillips 66 (PSX) stock rose about 2.7% in premarket trading after the US refiner reported an adjusted profit of $2.38 per share, beating Wall Street EPS estimates of about $1.71. During the quarter, Phillips 66 returned $906 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Reuters reports that fuelmakers have seen an unexpected boost in profit from key products in recent months, offering relief as earnings retreated from 2022 highs, driven by a post-pandemic demand rebound and supply disruptions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company's realized margin per barrel rose 12.4% to $11.25 in the quarter from a year ago. Its crude capacity utilization was 98%, while adjusted earnings from its refining segment rose about 30% at $392 million. Health insurer Centene reports surprise quarterly loss Centene's (CNC) stock fell 12% before the bell on Friday after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss and warned of a revenue slump from government-backed plans. Read more here. Google Search is readying the next generation for AI Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) not only posted a stellar quarter, it succeeded in advancing another urgent mission: convincing investors it can transition its search empire into an AI-infused one. Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban lays it out in today's Morning Brief: Read more here. Good morning. Here's what's happening today. Economic data: Durable goods orders (June preliminary) Earnings: Charter Communications (CHTR) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Intel stock falls as chipmaker cuts jobs, drops factory plans Google Search is readying the next generation for AI Trump: Australia has agreed to accept American beef Who benefits if Trump drops capital gains tax on home sales Americans are struggling to pay bills and feeling anxious about it Japan pushes back against US view of trade-deal profit split Trump and Powell clash in public — then Trump takes softer tone Amazon scraps plans for $350M cloud facility in Ireland Health insurer Centene's stock falls after surprise Q2 loss Trending tickers: Deckers, Strategy and centene Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Deckers Outdoor corporation (DECK) stock rose 12% before the bell after reporting that its earnings had been boosted by Ugg boots and Hoka running shoes. Net sales for both brands surpassed analysts' estimates in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. Strategy (MSTR) stock fell over 1% premarket today. Bloomberg reported on Friday how the company launched a new kind of preferred stock and upsized the deal from $500 million to $2.8 billion, according to a person familiar with the transaction who asked not to be identified. Centene (CNC) stock fell 10% in premarket trading after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss. Intel stock slides amid plans to cut 15% of workforce, cancel factories Intel (INTC) shares slid almost 6% in premarket after the struggling chipmaker said it will cut its workforce and drop plans for factories in Europe as it pursues a comeback. While the company posted a second quarter revenue beat late Thursday, its earnings fell short. Its profit forecast for the current quarter was also more downbeat than hoped: It expects to break even, rather than deliver the $0.04 earnings per share estimated. Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports: Read more here. Oil steady as investors weigh trade optimism against potential Venezuelan supply increase Oil prices climbed overnight Thursday, driven by renewed optimism over global trade negotiations, which bolstered confidence in economic growth and energy demand. The wave of positivity managing to overshadow concerns about a possible increase in Venezuelan oil supply. Reuters reports: Read more here. S&P 500 notches 5th consecutive record, Nasdaq closes at all-time high Stocks notched fresh records on Friday as trade optimism grew, and Trump once again backed off the threat of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an awkward exchange at the Fed headquarters. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4% to close at a record high for a fifth consecutive session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also advanced nearly 0.3% to notch a fresh record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.5%, just about 100 points shy of its own record high. Big Tech players will continue to report earnings next week, including Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META). On the trade front, President Trump put the odds of a deal with the EU at a 50-50 chance after clinching an agreement with Japan earlier this week. Trump's deadline for US trade partners to strike trade deals or else face a hike in tariff rates lands next Friday, Aug. 1. Investors will be watching the Fed's two-day policy meeting next week after Trump and Powell had an awkward exchange during the president's visit of the central banks $2.5 billion renovation site on Thursday. Stocks notched fresh records on Friday as trade optimism grew, and Trump once again backed off the threat of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an awkward exchange at the Fed headquarters. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.4% to close at a record high for a fifth consecutive session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also advanced nearly 0.3% to notch a fresh record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.5%, just about 100 points shy of its own record high. Big Tech players will continue to report earnings next week, including Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META). On the trade front, President Trump put the odds of a deal with the EU at a 50-50 chance after clinching an agreement with Japan earlier this week. Trump's deadline for US trade partners to strike trade deals or else face a hike in tariff rates lands next Friday, Aug. 1. Investors will be watching the Fed's two-day policy meeting next week after Trump and Powell had an awkward exchange during the president's visit of the central banks $2.5 billion renovation site on Thursday. Crypto takes a breather, pulls back following massive rally Bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank 2% to hover above $116,000 per token on Friday, taking a breather from a massive recent rally. Ethereum (ETH-USD) also declined following a massive rally in the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. This rally followed the President's signing of the Genius Act a week ago, legislation aimed at regulating stablecoins, or digital tokens backed by assets like the US dollar and short-term treasuries. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) sank 2% to hover above $116,000 per token on Friday, taking a breather from a massive recent rally. Ethereum (ETH-USD) also declined following a massive rally in the world's second-largest cryptocurrency. This rally followed the President's signing of the Genius Act a week ago, legislation aimed at regulating stablecoins, or digital tokens backed by assets like the US dollar and short-term treasuries. Is AI taking new grads' jobs? Not so fast. Yahoo Finances Emma Ockerman: Read more here. Yahoo Finances Emma Ockerman: Read more here. Speculative frenzy raises risk of stock market downturn: Goldman Sachs Investors beware. With the S&P 500 (^GSPC) at all-time highs, some on Wall Street are warning that a rise in speculative trades could increase the risk of a market pullback. Goldman Sachs analysts said their Speculative Trading Indicator has risen sharply during the past few months. The gauge now sits at its highest level on record, outside of the 1998-2001 dot-com bubble era and 2020-2021 during COVID, though it still remains well below those peaks. The indicator shows an elevated recent share of trading volumes in unprofitable stocks, penny stocks, and stocks with rich valuations compared to revenue. Apart from "Magnificent Seven" heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA), some of the stocks with the highest trading volumes over the past month include speculative plays like (BBAI), Lucid (LCID), and Plug Power (PLUG). "The recent rise in speculative trading activity signals near-term upside risk for the broad equity market but also increases the risk of an eventual downturn," Goldman's Ben Snider and his team wrote on Thursday. Read more here. Investors beware. With the S&P 500 (^GSPC) at all-time highs, some on Wall Street are warning that a rise in speculative trades could increase the risk of a market pullback. Goldman Sachs analysts said their Speculative Trading Indicator has risen sharply during the past few months. The gauge now sits at its highest level on record, outside of the 1998-2001 dot-com bubble era and 2020-2021 during COVID, though it still remains well below those peaks. The indicator shows an elevated recent share of trading volumes in unprofitable stocks, penny stocks, and stocks with rich valuations compared to revenue. Apart from "Magnificent Seven" heavyweights Nvidia (NVDA) and Tesla (TSLA), some of the stocks with the highest trading volumes over the past month include speculative plays like (BBAI), Lucid (LCID), and Plug Power (PLUG). "The recent rise in speculative trading activity signals near-term upside risk for the broad equity market but also increases the risk of an eventual downturn," Goldman's Ben Snider and his team wrote on Thursday. Read more here. Oil slides on potential supply increase as US allows Chevron to pump in Venezuela Oil declined on Friday after reports that the US restored permission for oil giant Chevron (CVX) to pump in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) declined about 1% while Brent (BZ=F) futures slid 0.7% to hover above $68 per barrel. The permission to operate in the sanctioned country appears to be a U-turn from the Trump administration's prior license revocation, aimed at applying pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The reinstatement allowing Chevron to resume limited oil production — first reported by Reuters and Bloomberg — followed a deal between Washington and Caracas to release 10 detained Americans in exchange for the repatriation of 250 Venezuelans held in El Salvador. President Trump has expressed his desire to lower energy prices, and Chevron's ability to pump oil there will bring additional supply into the market. For Chevron, the 'development helps remove another uncertainty from what was a long list to start the year,' Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told Yahoo Finance. The recent arbitration ruling in favor of Chevron's right to Hess's oil stake in Guyana as part of a broader acquisition has been a positive catalyst for the company. 'While this latest issue is less material, it still matters — it will generate additional cash flow for investors,' Thummel said. Oil declined on Friday after reports that the US restored permission for oil giant Chevron (CVX) to pump in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) declined about 1% while Brent (BZ=F) futures slid 0.7% to hover above $68 per barrel. The permission to operate in the sanctioned country appears to be a U-turn from the Trump administration's prior license revocation, aimed at applying pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The reinstatement allowing Chevron to resume limited oil production — first reported by Reuters and Bloomberg — followed a deal between Washington and Caracas to release 10 detained Americans in exchange for the repatriation of 250 Venezuelans held in El Salvador. President Trump has expressed his desire to lower energy prices, and Chevron's ability to pump oil there will bring additional supply into the market. For Chevron, the 'development helps remove another uncertainty from what was a long list to start the year,' Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, told Yahoo Finance. The recent arbitration ruling in favor of Chevron's right to Hess's oil stake in Guyana as part of a broader acquisition has been a positive catalyst for the company. 'While this latest issue is less material, it still matters — it will generate additional cash flow for investors,' Thummel said. Volkswagen sales show tariff sting German auto giant Volkswagen (VWAGY) is feeling the effects of President Trump's tariff policy, Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports. Subramanian writes: Read the full story here. German auto giant Volkswagen (VWAGY) is feeling the effects of President Trump's tariff policy, Yahoo Finance's Pras Subramanian reports. Subramanian writes: Read the full story here. Broadcom on track for fresh record as it outperforms 'Magnificent Seven' stocks Broadcom (AVGO) stock was on track to hit another high Friday after closing at a record $288.71 on Thursday, up fractionally to just over $289. Broadcom has largely outperformed the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks over the past year, with shares up more than 25% in 2025 and 94% over the last 12 months. Shares also hit an all-time intraday high above $291 on Thursday. So far this year, the only Magnificent Seven stock to outperform Broadcom is Nvidia (NVDA), which is up 30% after a wild turnaround in the first half of the year. On a 12-month basis, Broadcom still takes the lead, with Nvidia shares up 55% in that time frame. While Broadcom's market capitalization still trails most of the Magnificent Seven, its $1.36 trillion market cap is higher than Tesla's (TSLA) roughly $1 trillion market value, as the EV maker has struggled amid CEO Elon Musk's string of controversies and challenged vehicle sales. Broadcom (AVGO) stock was on track to hit another high Friday after closing at a record $288.71 on Thursday, up fractionally to just over $289. Broadcom has largely outperformed the so-called "Magnificent Seven" stocks over the past year, with shares up more than 25% in 2025 and 94% over the last 12 months. Shares also hit an all-time intraday high above $291 on Thursday. So far this year, the only Magnificent Seven stock to outperform Broadcom is Nvidia (NVDA), which is up 30% after a wild turnaround in the first half of the year. On a 12-month basis, Broadcom still takes the lead, with Nvidia shares up 55% in that time frame. While Broadcom's market capitalization still trails most of the Magnificent Seven, its $1.36 trillion market cap is higher than Tesla's (TSLA) roughly $1 trillion market value, as the EV maker has struggled amid CEO Elon Musk's string of controversies and challenged vehicle sales. Charter Communications plummets most in history after Q2 earnings miss Charter Communications stock plummeted as much as 18.5% Friday after the telecom giant — which offers cable TV and internet services through its Spectrum brand — reported second quarter earnings below expectations. That's the biggest drop in the stock's history. The company Friday reported adjusted earnings per share of $9.18, below the $9.82 expected, while revenue of $13.766 billion was marginally below the $13.768 billion expected. The company said in an earnings call Friday morning that it lost 117,000 residential and small business Internet customers in the quarter, compared to about 100,000 in the year ago period. Charter Communications stock plummeted as much as 18.5% Friday after the telecom giant — which offers cable TV and internet services through its Spectrum brand — reported second quarter earnings below expectations. That's the biggest drop in the stock's history. The company Friday reported adjusted earnings per share of $9.18, below the $9.82 expected, while revenue of $13.766 billion was marginally below the $13.768 billion expected. The company said in an earnings call Friday morning that it lost 117,000 residential and small business Internet customers in the quarter, compared to about 100,000 in the year ago period. Wall Street weighs Intel earnings: The 'road to recovery is long & uncertain' Wall Street remained skeptical of Intel (INTC) after the company left the future of its manufacturing business unclear during an earnings call late Thursday. Intel stock dropped Friday despite its financial results beating expectations. 'While the headline numbers look decent vs expectations, we don't think the numbers really mattered all that much,' Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note to clients Friday, saying instead that investors are focused on Intel's manufacturing roadmap. Intel, once a leading global chipmaker, has fallen behind its rivals, both with its own products and in its attempt to manufacture chips for outside customers. Truist analyst William Stein said, 'The road to recovery is long & uncertain' for Intel. That's because Intel had promised that its new manufacturing process, 18A, would bring in external customers to its cash-bleeding manufacturing business, which its former CEO Pat Gelsinger launched in 2021. Now, Intel says it will use 18A only for internal products, reaching peak production at the beginning of the next decade, and that it could 'potentially' get 'external customers at some point,' as CFO David Zinsner put it. Meanwhile, Intel also left the future of its successor to 18A, the manufacturing process it calls 14A, unclear and contingent upon it getting an external customer on board. Analysts and former Intel executives said it's crucial for the company to prove it can execute 18A to draw in outside customers to use its manufacturing business in what's known as a foundry. 'We raise concern on future competitiveness of both Products and Foundry, driven by constant roadmap changes, employee churn, as well as reduced investments in future products/nodes — pivotal in l-t [long term] market share and positioning,' Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya wrote. Wall Street remained skeptical of Intel (INTC) after the company left the future of its manufacturing business unclear during an earnings call late Thursday. Intel stock dropped Friday despite its financial results beating expectations. 'While the headline numbers look decent vs expectations, we don't think the numbers really mattered all that much,' Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a note to clients Friday, saying instead that investors are focused on Intel's manufacturing roadmap. Intel, once a leading global chipmaker, has fallen behind its rivals, both with its own products and in its attempt to manufacture chips for outside customers. Truist analyst William Stein said, 'The road to recovery is long & uncertain' for Intel. That's because Intel had promised that its new manufacturing process, 18A, would bring in external customers to its cash-bleeding manufacturing business, which its former CEO Pat Gelsinger launched in 2021. Now, Intel says it will use 18A only for internal products, reaching peak production at the beginning of the next decade, and that it could 'potentially' get 'external customers at some point,' as CFO David Zinsner put it. Meanwhile, Intel also left the future of its successor to 18A, the manufacturing process it calls 14A, unclear and contingent upon it getting an external customer on board. Analysts and former Intel executives said it's crucial for the company to prove it can execute 18A to draw in outside customers to use its manufacturing business in what's known as a foundry. 'We raise concern on future competitiveness of both Products and Foundry, driven by constant roadmap changes, employee churn, as well as reduced investments in future products/nodes — pivotal in l-t [long term] market share and positioning,' Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya wrote. Crypto stocks fall as dollar moves higher Crypto stocks fell Friday — save for Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal (PYPL). The largest corporate holder of bitcoin, Strategy (MSTR), dropped 2.5%, while crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell 2% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) dipped 2.6%. Riot Platforms (RIOT) declined 3.6%. The moves come as the US Dollar ( strengthens amid news surrounding US trade deals and as President Trump backed off from firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an unusual visit to the Federal Reserve. Crypto stocks fell Friday — save for Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal (PYPL). The largest corporate holder of bitcoin, Strategy (MSTR), dropped 2.5%, while crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) fell 2% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) dipped 2.6%. Riot Platforms (RIOT) declined 3.6%. The moves come as the US Dollar ( strengthens amid news surrounding US trade deals and as President Trump backed off from firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after an unusual visit to the Federal Reserve. Stocks crawl higher at the open US stocks inched higher, near all-time highs, at the open on Friday after a week of major earnings and trade deals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked up around 0.15%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose just over 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded just above the flat line. US stocks inched higher, near all-time highs, at the open on Friday after a week of major earnings and trade deals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) ticked up around 0.15%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose just over 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) traded just above the flat line. Dollar gains steam after Trump downplays clash with Fed Chair Powell The US dollar ( strengthened on Friday morning after President Trump downplayed a clash with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday that was part of an unusual visit to survey the Fed's building renovations. The visit came after several weeks of Trump criticizing Powell and, at one point, threatening to fire him. Trump told reporters on Friday, "I don't want to be personal" and said that the Fed visit was about helping finish the project. Later, Trump said of firing Powell: "To do that is a big move, and I just don't think it's necessary." Meanwhile, gold futures (GC=F) declined about 1% to trade at $3,341.90 per ounce as concerns about Fed independence eased. The US dollar ( strengthened on Friday morning after President Trump downplayed a clash with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday that was part of an unusual visit to survey the Fed's building renovations. The visit came after several weeks of Trump criticizing Powell and, at one point, threatening to fire him. Trump told reporters on Friday, "I don't want to be personal" and said that the Fed visit was about helping finish the project. Later, Trump said of firing Powell: "To do that is a big move, and I just don't think it's necessary." Meanwhile, gold futures (GC=F) declined about 1% to trade at $3,341.90 per ounce as concerns about Fed independence eased. Phillips 66 stock rises after beating profit estimates on higher refining margins Phillips 66 (PSX) stock rose about 2.7% in premarket trading after the US refiner reported an adjusted profit of $2.38 per share, beating Wall Street EPS estimates of about $1.71. During the quarter, Phillips 66 returned $906 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Reuters reports that fuelmakers have seen an unexpected boost in profit from key products in recent months, offering relief as earnings retreated from 2022 highs, driven by a post-pandemic demand rebound and supply disruptions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company's realized margin per barrel rose 12.4% to $11.25 in the quarter from a year ago. Its crude capacity utilization was 98%, while adjusted earnings from its refining segment rose about 30% at $392 million. Phillips 66 (PSX) stock rose about 2.7% in premarket trading after the US refiner reported an adjusted profit of $2.38 per share, beating Wall Street EPS estimates of about $1.71. During the quarter, Phillips 66 returned $906 million to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. Reuters reports that fuelmakers have seen an unexpected boost in profit from key products in recent months, offering relief as earnings retreated from 2022 highs, driven by a post-pandemic demand rebound and supply disruptions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The company's realized margin per barrel rose 12.4% to $11.25 in the quarter from a year ago. Its crude capacity utilization was 98%, while adjusted earnings from its refining segment rose about 30% at $392 million. Health insurer Centene reports surprise quarterly loss Centene's (CNC) stock fell 12% before the bell on Friday after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss and warned of a revenue slump from government-backed plans. Read more here. Centene's (CNC) stock fell 12% before the bell on Friday after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss and warned of a revenue slump from government-backed plans. Read more here. Google Search is readying the next generation for AI Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) not only posted a stellar quarter, it succeeded in advancing another urgent mission: convincing investors it can transition its search empire into an AI-infused one. Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban lays it out in today's Morning Brief: Read more here. Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) not only posted a stellar quarter, it succeeded in advancing another urgent mission: convincing investors it can transition its search empire into an AI-infused one. Yahoo Finance's Hamza Shaban lays it out in today's Morning Brief: Read more here. Good morning. Here's what's happening today. Economic data: Durable goods orders (June preliminary) Earnings: Charter Communications (CHTR) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Intel stock falls as chipmaker cuts jobs, drops factory plans Google Search is readying the next generation for AI Trump: Australia has agreed to accept American beef Who benefits if Trump drops capital gains tax on home sales Americans are struggling to pay bills and feeling anxious about it Japan pushes back against US view of trade-deal profit split Trump and Powell clash in public — then Trump takes softer tone Amazon scraps plans for $350M cloud facility in Ireland Health insurer Centene's stock falls after surprise Q2 loss Economic data: Durable goods orders (June preliminary) Earnings: Charter Communications (CHTR) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Intel stock falls as chipmaker cuts jobs, drops factory plans Google Search is readying the next generation for AI Trump: Australia has agreed to accept American beef Who benefits if Trump drops capital gains tax on home sales Americans are struggling to pay bills and feeling anxious about it Japan pushes back against US view of trade-deal profit split Trump and Powell clash in public — then Trump takes softer tone Amazon scraps plans for $350M cloud facility in Ireland Health insurer Centene's stock falls after surprise Q2 loss Trending tickers: Deckers, Strategy and centene Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Deckers Outdoor corporation (DECK) stock rose 12% before the bell after reporting that its earnings had been boosted by Ugg boots and Hoka running shoes. Net sales for both brands surpassed analysts' estimates in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. Strategy (MSTR) stock fell over 1% premarket today. Bloomberg reported on Friday how the company launched a new kind of preferred stock and upsized the deal from $500 million to $2.8 billion, according to a person familiar with the transaction who asked not to be identified. Centene (CNC) stock fell 10% in premarket trading after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss. Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Deckers Outdoor corporation (DECK) stock rose 12% before the bell after reporting that its earnings had been boosted by Ugg boots and Hoka running shoes. Net sales for both brands surpassed analysts' estimates in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30. Strategy (MSTR) stock fell over 1% premarket today. Bloomberg reported on Friday how the company launched a new kind of preferred stock and upsized the deal from $500 million to $2.8 billion, according to a person familiar with the transaction who asked not to be identified. Centene (CNC) stock fell 10% in premarket trading after the health insurance company reported a quarterly loss. Intel stock slides amid plans to cut 15% of workforce, cancel factories Intel (INTC) shares slid almost 6% in premarket after the struggling chipmaker said it will cut its workforce and drop plans for factories in Europe as it pursues a comeback. While the company posted a second quarter revenue beat late Thursday, its earnings fell short. Its profit forecast for the current quarter was also more downbeat than hoped: It expects to break even, rather than deliver the $0.04 earnings per share estimated. Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports: Read more here. Intel (INTC) shares slid almost 6% in premarket after the struggling chipmaker said it will cut its workforce and drop plans for factories in Europe as it pursues a comeback. While the company posted a second quarter revenue beat late Thursday, its earnings fell short. Its profit forecast for the current quarter was also more downbeat than hoped: It expects to break even, rather than deliver the $0.04 earnings per share estimated. Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley reports: Read more here. Oil steady as investors weigh trade optimism against potential Venezuelan supply increase Oil prices climbed overnight Thursday, driven by renewed optimism over global trade negotiations, which bolstered confidence in economic growth and energy demand. The wave of positivity managing to overshadow concerns about a possible increase in Venezuelan oil supply. Reuters reports: Read more here. Oil prices climbed overnight Thursday, driven by renewed optimism over global trade negotiations, which bolstered confidence in economic growth and energy demand. The wave of positivity managing to overshadow concerns about a possible increase in Venezuelan oil supply. Reuters reports: Read more here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
India Trade Pact Nears, US Beef Floods In--What Investors Should Watch Next
Australia may be on the brink of deepening its trade ties with India, according to Trade Minister Don Farrell, who suggested a broader free trade deal could have been inked months ago if not for a timing clash with the May election. Speaking at the Lowy Institute, Farrell hinted that the delay was procedural, not political, and noted that his Indian counterpart is currently focused on high-stakes tariff talks with President Donald Trump's administration. The existing FTAsigned back in April 2022cut tariffs across most sectors, but left out sensitive Australian exports like chickpeas, dairy, and wheat. Farrell expects those gaps could be closed bit by bit, as part of a multi-stage rollout. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with TSN. That optimism is surfacing just as India finalizes a major agreement with the UK and bilateral trade with Australia hits nearly A$50 billion ($32.9 billion) in 2023. Farrell said the structure of a final deal with India is likely to be incremental, owing to political realities on both sides. Still, with Canberra actively seeking to diversify away from Chinaits top trading partnera more comprehensive agreement with India could be a meaningful next step. For investors eyeing agri-exporters, particularly in grains and dairy, the next phase of negotiations could shape longer-term access to one of the world's fastest-growing consumer markets. In a separate move with potential ripple effects, Australia just lifted all remaining restrictions on US beef importsa long-standing ask from the Trump administration. The announcement triggered a celebratory post from President Trump on TruthSocial, but Farrell was quick to tamp down the political narrative, stating the decision was based on science and years of internal review. We haven't done this to win favorwe think the Americans should trade with us anyway, he said. Whether this opens the door to a broader trade pact with the US remains to be seen, but the development is unlikely to go unnoticed by investors in US meat giants like Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) or Brazil's JBS, both of which could stand to benefit from expanded market access. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
EU's Von der Leyen to Meet Trump in Bid to Clinch Trade Deal
(Bloomberg) -- European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she will travel to Scotland this weekend to meet with US President Donald Trump, as the two sides aim to conclude a trade deal ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline when 30% tariffs on the bloc's exports are otherwise due to kick in. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Can This Bridge Ease the Troubled US-Canadian Relationship? Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Trump Administration Sues NYC Over Sanctuary City Policy After months of talks and shuttle diplomacy between Brussels and Washington DC, the two sides have been zeroing in on an agreement this past week that would see the EU face 15% tariffs on most of its trade. Limited exemptions are expected for aviation, some medical devices and generic medicines, several spirits, and a specific set of manufacturing equipment that the US needs, Bloomberg previously reported. Steel and aluminum imports would likely benefit from a quota under the arrangements under discussion but above that threshold they would face a higher tariff of 50%. 'We'll see if we make a deal,' Trump said as he arrived in Scotland on Friday. 'Ursula will be here, highly respected woman. So we look forward to that.' Trump reiterated that he believed there was 'a 50-50 chance' of a deal with the EU, saying there were sticking points on 'maybe 20 different things' that he did not want to detail publicly. Trump gave similar odds in Washington before leaving, but also said the EU had a 'pretty good chance' of reaching an agreement. Trump announced tariffs on almost all US trading partners in April, declaring his intent to bring back domestic manufacturing, to pay for a massive tax-cut extension and to stop the rest of the world from taking advantage of the US. He has also sought to remove what he describes as barriers for American companies to do business around the world. Alongside a universal levy, the US president has hit cars and auto parts with a 25% levy, and steel and aluminum with double that. He's also threatened to target pharmaceuticals and semiconductors with new duties as early as next month, and recently announced a 50% tariff on copper. The EU has been seeking quotas and a ceiling on future sectoral tariffs that the US has yet to implement but it's unclear if an initial agreement will shield the bloc from potential future levies at this stage. The agreement would also cover non-tariff barriers, cooperation on economic security matters and strategic purchases by the EU in sectors such as energy and artificial intelligence. The terms of any initial deal, which is expected to take the form of a short joint statement, would need to be approved by member states, according to people familiar with the matter. The statement is seen as a stepping stone toward more detailed negotiations. Because of the ongoing uncertainty, the EU has in parallel put together countermeasures in the event of a no-deal scenario, which would see it quickly hit American exports with up to 30% tariffs on some €100 billion ($117 billion) worth of goods — including Boeing Co. aircraft, US-made cars and bourbon whiskey — in the event of no-deal and if Trump carries through with his threat to impose that rate on most of the bloc's exports after Aug. 1 or in future. The package also includes some export restrictions on scrap metals. In a no-deal scenario, the bloc is also prepared to move forward with its anti-coercion instrument, a potent trade tool that would eventually allow it to also target other areas such as market access, services and restrictions on public contracts, provided that there is a majority of member states backing its use. (Updates with Trump remarks in paragraphs 4-6.) Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash Confessions of a Laptop Farmer: How an American Helped North Korea's Wild Remote Worker Scheme It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.