Wall Street, dollar firms ahead of a big week for market risk
"Some deals will be done and talks will continue, and Trump may push out the deadline further," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "Trump's process is to shock and then be reasonable in terms of tariffs."
All three indexes were modestly green in early trading, and were on course for weekly gains.
Gold lost some shine, pressured by the dollar as healthy risk appetites lured investors away from the safe-haven metal.
With Trump's negotiating deadline just a week away, the U.S. and its trading partners are scrambling to reach trade agreements, with European negotiators heartened by the deal with Japan announced on Tuesday.
Intel's shares INTC.O dropped 8.8 per cent after the chipmaker forecast steeper-than-expected quarterly losses and said it had halted or scrapped new factory projects in the U.S. and Europe.
More than a third of the companies in the S&P 500 have posted results, 80 per cent of which have beaten estimates, according to LSEG data.
Analysts now expect year-on-year second-quarter earnings growth of 7.7 per cent, compared with the 5.8 per cent estimate as of July 1.
Four members of the Magnificent 7 group of Artificial Intelligence-related megacap stocks - Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft are on next week's earnings docket, and market participants will scrutinize the companies' conference calls for signs that AI expenditures are beginning to pay off and whether tariff-related uncertainties continue to weigh on forward guidance.
U.S. economic data released on Friday showed an unexpected decline in new orders for core capital goods, as companies hold back on big ticket purchases amid the fog of ongoing trade talks.
The Fed is expected to convene next week for its two-day monetary policy meeting, which is expected to culminate in a decision to let its federal funds target rate stand in the 4.25 per cent to 4.50 per cent range. The meeting comes at a moment in which Fed Chair Jerome Powell is facing criticism from Trump for not cutting rates.
"I don't expect Powell to change what he does, nor should he," Ghriskey added. "The idea of lower interest rates should scare us because Fed has had this huge job of bringing down inflation, and to ease rates at this point is clearly going to be inflationary."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 113.54 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 44,806.30, the S&P 500 rose 16.19 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 6,379.67 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 44.40 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 21,102.36.
European shares gave back some of the previous session's gains as market participants parsed mixed corporate earnings and awaited developments in the U.S.-EU trade negotiations.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.01 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 940.34.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.29 per cent, while Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 5.34 points, or 0.24 per cent.
Emerging market stocks fell 10.36 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 1,256.93. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan closed lower by 0.95 per cent, to 661.07, while Japan's Nikkei fell 370.11 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 41,456.23.
U.S. Treasury yields drifted higher in a subdued trading as investors braced for a data-heavy week, updates on U.S. trade talks, and a Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.2 basis points to 4.41 per cent, from 4.408 per cent late on Thursday.
The 30-year bond yield rose 0.5 basis points to 4.9543 per cent from 4.949 per cent late on Thursday.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 0.6 basis points to 3.919 per cent, from 3.925 per cent late on Thursday.
The dollar gained strength but remained on course for its biggest drop in a month as investors focused on tariff negotiations and central bank meetings on the calendar for next week.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.28 per cent to 97.72, with the euro down 0.2 per cent at $1.173.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.4 per cent to 147.57.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 3.08 per cent to $115,133.22. Ethereum declined 2.63 per cent to $3,641.43.
Oil prices softened as investors mulled the global demand outlook and a potential supply increase from Venezuela.
U.S. crude fell 0.56 per cent to $65.63 a barrel and Brent fell to $68.91 per barrel, down 0.39 per cent on the day.
Gold prices dropped in opposition to the firming dollar, amid growing optimism surrounding U.S.-EU trade talks.
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