Wall Street swings to losses as earnings weigh
At 11:36 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 lost 14.45 points, or 0.23%, to 6,374.98, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 58.64 points, or 0.28%, to 21,119.59.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 198.93 points, or 0.44%, to 44,638.52, about 460 points short of its record peak.
Quarterly results from key Dow components UnitedHealth and Boeing failed to impress investors. Health insurer UnitedHealth fell 5.1% after a disappointing profit forecast, while Boeing lost 3.7% despite reporting a smaller second-quarter loss.
UnitedHealth's stock has lost nearly half its value from the beginning of 2025. On the day, the healthcare index lost 0.4%.
Meanwhile, United Parcel Service became the latest victim of US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs as the stock tumbled 9.3% after the company reported lower-than-expected second-quarter profit.
Similarly, Whirlpool sank 10.8% after the home appliances maker slashed its annual earnings forecast and dividend, citing tariff-centric pressures.
The Dow Jones Transport Average dropped 2.1% to a one-week low.
Meanwhile, consumer confidence in July increased more than expected to 97.2. In June, US job openings and hiring had decreased, pointing to a further slowdown in labor market activity.
The week had started on firm footing after the US-EU trade deal that halved tariffs to 15% and boosted expectations of more agreements ahead of Trump's August 1 deadline. Trump has also floated a potential 'world tariff' of 15% to 20% for non-negotiating countries.
Key negotiations between the US and China entered their second day in Stockholm as the world's two leading economies aim to resolve their trade conflict and possibly produce a 90-day extension to the tariff truce brokered in May.
Meanwhile, India prepared for higher US tariffs — potentially as high as 25% — on some exports as it opts to hold the line on new trade concessions ahead of Washington's deadline, according to two Indian government sources.
The International Monetary Fund was examining the details of the trade agreements the United States has struck in recent days to assess their economic impact.
Earnings from tech heavyweights Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple are scheduled later this week and could potentially steer Wall Street in the following days.
'For the Mag 7 names, it's going to be all about that CapEx spend - that AI spend continuing to be pretty robust... the market's going to take a lot of direction from that,' said Jack Janasiewicz, lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers.
The US central bank is set to begin its two-day policy meeting later in the day. While the Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, traders will closely analyze policymakers' remarks to gauge the timing of future moves.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are pricing in about a 61.6% chance of a rate cut in September.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 56 new lows.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
12 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Ripple to buy stablecoin platform Rail for $200 million
Ripple will buy stablecoin payments platform Rail for $200 million, the company said on Thursday, weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law that raised expectations cryptocurrency tokens are about to enter the mainstream. Ripple, a crypto company that issues the token XRP as well as its own stablecoin called RLUSD, has invested heavily in stablecoin infrastructure in recent months. The acquisition - which will close in the fourth quarter of this year pending regulatory approvals - will enable Ripple and Rail to 'deliver the most comprehensive stablecoin payments solution available in the market,' it said. 'As regulations become more clear and the space has grown and matured, this opportunity for stablecoin payments is really ripe, and the acquisition of Rail just really solidifies our market leadership in stablecoin payments,' said Monica Long, president of Ripple in an interview. Toronto-based Rail, backed by Galaxy Ventures and Accomplice, uses stablecoins to deploy cross-border payments. It says its transactions are cheaper and can clear in just hours, compared to longer settlement times for fiat payments. Rail says on its website that the company is responsible for 10% of all global stablecoin-based payment activity. Trump in July signed a bill into law to create a federal regulatory regime for stablecoins, which analysts said could allow digital assets to become an everyday way to make payments and move money. Stablecoins are designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 U.S. dollar peg, and their use has exploded, notably by crypto traders moving funds between tokens. Ripple said in April that it would also buy multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road in a $1.25 billion deal, one of its largest acquisitions yet, which it said would enhance RLUSD's utility. Ripple launched RLUSD, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, last year, as it sought to disrupt the market dominated by Tether and Circle's USDC.
Business Recorder
12 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Bank of England cuts rate as keeps watch over tariffs
LONDON: The Bank of England on Thursday cut its key interest rate by a quarter point to four percent, the lowest level in 2.5 years, as it bids to boost a UK economy still threatened by US tariffs. Alongside the expected decision, the BoE forecast British economic growth to hit 1.25 percent this year, slightly better than the central bank's previous estimate of one percent. 'The direct impact of US tariffs is milder than feared but more general tariff-related uncertainty still weighs on sentiment,' the BoE said in a statement. London and Washington reached an agreement in May to cut levies of more than 10 percent imposed by US President Donald Trump on certain UK-made items imported by the United States, notably vehicles. The quarter-point cut Thursday was the BoE's fifth such reduction since starting a trimming cycle in August 2024. Bank of England keeps rates steady, sees further loosening as jobs market weakens 'Interest rates are still on a downward path, but any future rate cuts will need to be made gradually and carefully,' its governor Andrew Bailey said following Thursday's decision. The BoE's main task is to keep Britain's annual inflation rate at 2.0 percent but the latest official data showed it had jumped unexpectedly to an 18-month high in June. The Consumer Prices Index increased to 3.6 percent as motor fuel and food prices stayed high. Weak economy Latest official figures also show that Britain's economy unexpectedly contracted for a second month running in May and UK unemployment is at a near four-year high of 4.7 percent. This is largely down to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government increasing a UK business tax from April, the same month that the country became subject to Trump's 10-percent baseline tariff on most goods. Finance minister Rachel Reeves welcomed the BoE's latest rate cut. 'This fifth interest rate cut since the election (win by Labour in July 2024) is welcome news, helping bring down the cost of mortgages and loans for families and businesses,' she said in a statement. The US Federal Reserve last week kept interest rates unchanged, defying strong political pressure from Trump to slash borrowing costs in a bid to boost the world's biggest economy. Asked about US tariffs following the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a press conference: 'We're still a ways away from seeing where things settle down.' The European Central Bank is meanwhile widely expected to keep rates unchanged at its next meeting, with eurozone inflation around the ECB's two-percent target. But that could change, according to some economists, based on how Trump's tariffs affect the single-currency bloc.
Business Recorder
12 minutes ago
- Business Recorder
Trump calls on Intel CEO to resign
U.S. President Donald Trump called for the immediate resignation of Intel's new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, saying he was 'highly conflicted' after questions arose about his ties to Chinese firms and sparking doubts over the future of the American chip-making icon. 'There is no other solution to this problem,' Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, knocking shares of Intel down nearly 5% in premarket trading. The move comes a day after Reuters reported U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel's board chair with questions about Tan's ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former firm Cadence Design. In April, Reuters reported Tan - himself or through venture funds he has founded or operates - has invested in hundreds of Chinese companies, some of which are linked to the Chinese military. The Intel CEO invested at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms between March 2012 and December 2024, Reuters found. Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Once the dominant force in chip-making, the company is in the middle of a strategy shift meant to revive its fortunes after it fell behind Taiwanese rival TSMC in manufacturing. Intel also has virtually no presence in the booming market for AI chips dominated by Nvidia Tan, who took over the CEO role in March after the ousting of his predecessor Pat Gelsinger late last year, has set a goal of slashing the chipmaker's workforce to 75,000 people by year-end, a reduction of around 22%. Intel also vowed to take a more disciplined approach to manufacturing investment.
