Wall Street quiet ahead of meeting between Trump and Putin
Markets are largely unchanged early Thursday ahead of a key meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
Futures for the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all ticked down less than 0.1% before the opening bell.
Shares of Deere & Co. slid 7.5% after the heavy equipment manufacturer cut its forecast despite beating Wall Street's third-quarter sales and profit targets. Deere's sales and profit fell significantly from a year ago and the company cited "near-term uncertainty" in its earnings release. Deere said that it has been focusing on inventory management with inventories remaining high.
Tapestry, the parent of Kate Spade and Coach, saw its shares tumble more than 6% on a weak outlook. The company said it expects a tiny increase in sales for the upcoming year, while forecasting a 60-cents-per-share hit on profit due to tariffs. Tapestry says that about 70% of its products are made in Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines.
Later Thursday, the government will release its report on inflation at the wholesale level, before products reach consumers. Economists expect it to show inflation ticked up to 2.4% in July from 2.3% in June.
The U.S. also releases its weekly report on applications for jobless benefits, which serves as a proxy for U.S. layoffs.
On Friday at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson outside Anchorage, Putin and Trump as well as a meeting of the delegations, will convene a meeting.
In Europe at midday, Britain's FTSE 100 was unchanged after the government reported that the UK economy grew at a faster than expected 1.2% annual pace in the last quarter. In quarterly terms, the economy grew 0.3%, slowing from a 0.7% expansion in January-March.
Germany's DAX rose 0.6% and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5%.
Europe is bracing for Trump's encounter with Putin, though the U.S. president has said he will prioritize trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Putin on Friday in Anchorage.
The Trump-Putin meeting could have major implications for energy markets, potentially leading to an easing of sanctions against Moscow, or an escalation if no progress is made on ending the war in Ukraine.
Early Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude rose 23 cents to $62.88 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 25 cents to $65.88 per barrel.
During Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell nearly 1.5% to 42,649.26 as investors sold to lock in recent gains that have taken the benchmark to all-time records.
The Japanese yen rose against the dollar after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg that Japan was "behind the curve" in monetary tightening. He was referring to the slow pace of increases in Japan's near-zero interest rates.
Low interest rates tend to make the yen weaker against the dollar, giving Japanese exporters a cost advantage in overseas sales.
The dollar fell to 146.53 Japanese yen Thursday, down from 147.39 yen. The euro slid to $1.1691 from $1.1705.
In Chinese markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.4% to 25,519.32, while the Shanghai composite index slid 0.5% to 3,666.44.
South Korea's Kospi rose less than 0.1% to 3,225.66.
In Australia, the S&P ASX 200 index added 0.5% to 8,873.80.
Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5% and India's Sensex edged 0.2% higher.
Bitcoin briefly rose more than 3% to a new record of over $123,000, according to CoinDesk. It later fell back below $121,000.
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