S&P 500 and Nasdaq notch first record high closes in months
(Reuters) -The S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record high closes on Friday for the first time in months, rebounding from a slump caused by U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies that threatened to tip the global economy into a recession.
The S&P 500 index advanced 0.5% to about 6,173.07 points, surpassing its previous record high close of 6,144.15 reached on February 19.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index also gained 0.5%, ending at about 20,273.46 points and surpassing its record high close of 20,173.89 on December 16.
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23 minutes ago
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US stocks end up, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq records despite terminated Canada trade talks
U.S. stocks ended higher, with the broad S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing to record closes on trade optimism. Sentiment was dented slightly and only briefly in the afternoon after President Donald Trump said on social media trade talks with Canada were terminated, effective immediately, over a digital services tax on U.S. tech firms. "We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period," Trump wrote. Canada is the U.S.' second largest trading partner. The blue-chip Dow closed up 1%, or 432.43 points, to 43,819.27, while the S&P 500 gained 0.52%, or 32.11 points, to 6,173.13 and the Nasdaq rose 0.52%, or 105.54 points, to 20,273.46. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq had been within striking distance of their record highs for the past couple of days but hadn't mustered enough energy to hurdle them until now. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield inched up to 4.275%. Stocks jumped at the open on trade deal optimism after Trump said the U.S. finalized a deal with China. The final China deal includes a commitment from China to deliver rare earths used in everything from wind turbines to jet planes, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg. It also includes easier tech restrictions, said China's Ministry of Commerce. Lutnick also said the U.S. was nearing agreements with ten other trading partners. Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Lutnick expressed confidence a deal between the EU and U.S. coud be struck soon, according to Bloomberg. Lutnick said the EU had picked up the pace of negotiations in recent weeks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Fox Business he expected trade deals with 18 key trading partners to be wrapped up by Labor Day in September, suggesting Trump's early July deadline would be extended and higher tariffs wouldn't kick in yet. Stocks also found support from economic data. Americans felt better in June than in May, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey. Its sentiment reading rose to 16.3% to 60.7 in June from May. Most of the improvement came as people's inflation expectations fell. Before the opening bell, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, or personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, also rose 2.3% annually, as expected. The so-called core rate excluding food and energy, rose 2.7%, slightly higher than the 2.6% mean forecast. The "inflation report shouldn't be enough to give markets a significant scare, but it probably dashes the slim hopes investors had for a July rate cut," said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at trading platform eToro. Meanwhile PCE, a measure of consumer spending, fell 0.3% in May from the prior month after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was the first decline this year. "This weakness is probably primarily just payback from the jump in spending earlier this year as consumers tried to buy goods ahead of the tariffs," said Greg Wilensky, head of U.S. fixed income and portfolio manager at Janus Henderson. "The weakness in spending was on the goods side while spending on services increased." Nike's quarterly results topped analysts' expectations but the company warned tariffs are expected to increase its costs by $1 billion this fiscal year. It said it will pass some costs on to consumers and cut costs to deal with the added expense. Its sales outlook for the first three months of its fiscal year was better than forecasts. Shares of the mega sportswear company jumped 15.19%. CorMedix plans to sell $85 million of stock in a public offering. Shares slumped 16.44%. Shares of credit bureau companies closed mixed after Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a social media post all credit bureaus were under review. Bakkt Holdings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $1 billion in securities to potentially buy bitcoin and other digital assets. Bitcoin last rose 0.02% to $106,975. (This story was updated with new information.) Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@ and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: S&P 500,Nasdaq hit record high although Trump ends Canada trade talks Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
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Trump says he is ending Canada trade talks amid tech tax dispute
Donald Trump has announced he is ending trade talks with Canada, one of its largest trading partners, accusing it of imposing unfair taxes on US technology companies in a 'direct and blatant attack on our country'. The news came hours after the US had announced a breakthrough in talks with China over rare-earth shipments into America, and announcements from top officials that the US would continue trade negotiations beyond a 9 July deadline set by Trump. Signs of a cooling in the trade war sent US stock markets to new highs. The US has been negotiating a trade deal with Canada, one of its top two global trading partners, for months. Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, met Trump at the G7 summit of world leaders in Alberta earlier this month. Carney announced that Trump had agreed to 'pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days'. But talks appear to have foundered over Canada's decision to impose a digital services tax on US technology companies. First payments on the tax are due on Monday and will cost US tech companies, including Alphabet, Amazon and Meta, an estimated $3bn. Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country. 'They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also. Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period. 'Thank you for your attention to this matter!'
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27 minutes ago
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Billionaire Philippe Laffont Sells Nvidia Stock and Buys an AI Stock Up 300% in 2025
Billionaire hedge fund manager Philippe Laffont sold Nvidia and started a position in CoreWeave during the first quarter. Nvidia is not only the leader in data center GPUs, but the company also has booming artificial intelligence (AI) networking and cloud services businesses. CoreWeave operates data center infrastructure purpose-built for AI workloads, and the stock has advanced 300% since its IPO in March. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the cornerstone of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, and Wall Street has a great deal of conviction in the semiconductor company. Among 65 analysts, the median target price is $175 per share. That implies 13% upside from its current share price of $155. Yet hedge fund manager Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management sold 1.4 million shares of Nvidia in the first quarter, reducing his stake by 15%. Meanwhile, the billionaire purchased 14.4 million shares of CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV), an AI stock that has returned 300% since its IPO on March 28. Here's what investors should know about Nvidia and CoreWeave. Nvidia reported strong first-quarter financial results that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines. Sales rose 69% to $44 billion due to what CEO Jensen Huang called "incredibly strong" demand for AI infrastructure solutions. Meanwhile, non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) earnings increased 33% to $0.81 per diluted share, and would have grown more quickly had it not been for export restrictions. Looking ahead, investors have good reason to think Nvidia can maintain its momentum for several years to come. The company is not only the market leader in data center graphics processing units (GPUs), chips used to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) applications, but it also has booming networking and cloud services businesses built on growing demand for AI. That sets Nvidia up for strong sales growth through the end of the decade. Grand View Research estimates spending on AI hardware, software, and services will increase at 35% annually through 2030. Meanwhile, Wall Street expects Nvidia's adjusted earnings to grow at 40% annually through the fiscal year ending in January 2027. That makes the current valuation of 49 times adjusted earnings look fair. So, why did Philippe Laffont sell Nvidia? I think profit-taking factored into the decision. When he first bought the stock in Q3 2016, the average split-adjusted price was $1.47 per share. But the average price had risen 8,500% by Q1 2025. Regardless, it would be wrong to assume Laffont has lost confidence. Nvidia was still his eighth-largest holding at 4% of his portfolio as of March 31. I think Laffont has the right idea. Anyone sitting on monster gains can take some profits and reinvest that money elsewhere. At the same time, it makes sense to keep a modest position in Nvidia because the company has a strong presence in so many parts of the AI economy. Indeed, Angelo Zino at CFRA Research thinks Nvidia "will be the most important company to our civilization over the next decade." CoreWeave provides infrastructure and software services purpose-built for AI workloads. The company is quite adept at managing GPU clusters. An internal study shows up to 20% better performance compared to other public clouds, and independent research company SemiAnalysis recently ranked it as the best AI cloud platform on the market. CoreWeave reported tremendous first-quarter financial results. Revenue climbed 420% to $981 million, and adjusted operating income (which eliminates stock-based compensation and interest payments) increased 550% to $162 million. However, the company reported a non-GAAP net loss of $150 million because interest payments cut deeply into profits. Building and maintaining data center infrastructure is costly, especially when the servers are built for AI. But CoreWeave has a responsible borrowing strategy: It only takes on debt when contracts create a need for additional capacity, and only if those contracts more than cover the cost of the debt. Management calls it "naturally deleveraging self-amortizing debt." CoreWeave is well positioned to benefit as demand for AI infrastructure increases. The company said its revenue backlog increased 63% to $26 billion in the first quarter due in large part to a new deal with OpenAI. But its clientele also includes noteworthy technology companies likely to spend more on AI infrastructure in the years ahead, such as IBM, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. Importantly, Philippe Laffont bought CoreWeave for about $40 per share because the company held its IPO on March 28, meaning it was only public for two trading days in the first quarter. Its share price ranged from $37 to $40 during that period. CoreWeave has since quadrupled in value, and the stock now trades at 29 times sales, a very expensive valuation. For context, only three companies in the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) currently have price-to-sales ratios above 29. So, investors should be cautious. I think it's OK to buy a small position today, but I would wait for the stock to get cheaper before building a large position. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Trevor Jennewine has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends International Business Machines, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Billionaire Philippe Laffont Sells Nvidia Stock and Buys an AI Stock Up 300% in 2025 was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
