
Indexes slip as investors consider tariff impact
Investors digested comments from several companies on tariffs. Shares of KFC parent Yum Brands (YUM.N), opens new tab were down 4.8% after the company missed estimates for the second quarter, as steep trade duties restricted consumer spending. Caterpillar (CAT.N), opens new tab warned of an up to $1.5 billion hit in 2025, but its shares were up 0.2%.
Trump also signaled an announcement on tariffs on semiconductors and chips in the "next week or so."
The S&P 500 technology (.SPLRCT), opens new tab index was down 0.3% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (.SOX), opens new tab was down 0.6%.
"Today's market action reflects investors that are merely in pause mode," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
While the backdrop for equities remains constructive for the year, "clearly near-term there are some headwinds," he said, including elevated valuations given recent record highs in the S&P 500.
"The impact of tariffs remains a work in progress," he noted.
Earlier in the day, data showed ISM's nonmanufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) slipped to 50.1 last month from 50.8 in June, as little changes in orders and weaker hiring, alongside rising input costs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab fell 54.49 points, or 0.12%, to 44,120.40, the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab lost 24.25 points, or 0.38%, to 6,305.69 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab lost 106.49 points, or 0.51%, to 20,947.19.
Shares of Marriott International (MAR.O), opens new tab were down 0.2% after it cut its annual forecast on slowing travel demand.
Stocks sold off on Friday after a disappointing July jobs data and sharp downward revisions to prior months, but indexes bounced back on Monday.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 141 new highs and 59 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 1,989 stocks rose and 2,476 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.24-to-1 ratio.
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The Independent
16 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump's planned 100% computer chip tariff sparks confusion among businesses and trading partners
President Donald Trump 's plans for 100% tariffs on computer chips that aren't made in the U.S. are stoking confusion among businesses and trading partners — boosting stocks for leading semiconductor companies while leaving smaller producers scrambling to understand the implications. The U.S. imports a relatively small number of chips because most of the foreign-made chips in a device — from an iPhone to a car — were already assembled into a product, or part of a product, before it landed in the country. "The real question everybody in the industry is asking is whether there will be a component tariff, where the chips in a device would require some sort of separate tariff calculation,' said Martin Chorzempa, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Trump said Wednesday that companies that "made a commitment to build" in the U.S. would be spared the import tax, even if they are not yet producing those chips in American factories. 'We'll be putting a tariff of approximately 100% on chips and semiconductors,' Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook. 'But if you're building in the United States of America, there's no charge.' Wall Street investors interpreted that as good news not just for U.S. companies like AMD, Intel and Nvidia, but also for the biggest Asian chipmakers like Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company that have been working to build U.S. factories. But it left greater uncertainty for smaller chipmakers in Europe and Asia that have little exposure to the AI boom but still make semiconductors inserted into essential products like cars or washing machines. These producers "probably aren't large enough to get on the map for an exemption and quite probably wouldn't have the kind of excess capital and margins to be able to add investment at a large scale into the United States,' Chorzempa said. The announcement came more than three months after Trump temporarily exempted most electronics from his administration's most onerous tariffs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of computer chips increased the price of autos and contributed to higher inflation. Chorzempa said chip tariffs could again raise prices by hundreds of dollars per vehicle if the semiconductors inside a car are not exempt. 'There's a chip that allows you to open and close the window," Chorzempa said. "There's a chip that is running the entertainment system. There is a chip that's kind of running all the electronics. There are chips, especially in EVs, that are doing power management, all that kind of stuff.' Much of the investment into building U.S. chip factories began with the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022, providing more than $50 billion to support new computer chip plants, fund research and train workers for the industry. Trump has vocally opposed those financial incentives and taken a different approach, betting that the threat of dramatically higher chip costs would force most companies to open factories domestically, despite the risk that tariffs could squeeze corporate profits and push up prices for electronics.


BBC News
17 minutes ago
- BBC News
Trump calls for Intel boss Lip-Bu Tan to resign over alleged China ties
President Donald Trump has called on the head of US chipmaker Intel to resign "immediately", accusing him of having problematic ties to a social media post, he said CEO Lip-Bu Tan was "highly conflicted", apparently referring to Mr Tan's alleged investments in companies that the US says are tied to the Chinese military. It is unusual for a president to demand the resignation of a corporate which has received billions of dollars from the government to support semiconductor manufacturing in the US, did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Tan was appointed in March to turn around the tech giant, as it fell behind China and other competitors in chips development. A naturalised US citizen born in Malaysia and raised in Singapore, he is a venture capitalist well-known for his expertise in the semiconductor industry. In an update to investors this week, he said the firm would be scaling back its investments in manufacturing, including in the US, to match demand from customers. Intel has already cut thousands of jobs this year as part of an effort to "right-size" the firm. Shares in Intel fell more than 1.8% in morning trading after the attack from Trump, who has been critical of the firm previously and is preparing to raise tariffs on the chip industry. "The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem," Trump is known for targeting business leaders with public criticism to a degree unheard of in other presidents, but even by his standards, the demand that the leader of a private company resign is extraordinary. Responding to critics who said he had gone too far, the White House told the BBC: "President Trump remains fully committed to safeguarding our country's national and economic security. This includes ensuring that iconic American companies in cutting-edge sectors are led by men and women who Americans can trust."The president has been concerned about China taking advantage of US technology since his first term, but his policies have been mixed. He has recently threatened tariffs on semiconductors - a move almost universally opposed by the business community - while loosening some rules forbidding business with Chinese firms after pleas from tech giants such as Nvidia. In a statement earlier this week, Intel defended Mr Tan, saying he and the company were "deeply committed to the national security of the US and the integrity of our role in the US defense ecosystem". The statement was made in response to a letter that Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent to Intel's board seeking information about Mr Tan's hiring and his ties to China. Cotton said he was concerned "about the security and integrity of Intel's operations and its potential impact on US national security".He pointed to Mr Tan's role as the longtime chief executive of tech firm Cadence Design Systems, which pleaded guilty in July and agreed to pay $140m over US charges that its subsidiary in China had repeatedly done business with the country's National University of Defense Technology, violating US export controls. Mr Tan's ties to China were also the subject of a Reuters investigation in April, which found that he had invested at least $200 in hundreds of Chinese companies, some of which are linked to the Chinese military. The investments were made either personally or though his funds between 2012 and December 2024. A 2024 congressional report examining ties between US investment firms and Chinese businesses had also spotlighted some of the holdings of Mr Tan's San Francisco-based investment firm, Walden International. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, a Trump ally, took up the attack on Mr Tan on Thursday, criticising Intel for delays in its plans for chip manufacturing in the US.


Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
US jobless claims edge up, but 'no-hire, no-fire' trend remains intact
Aug 7 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits ticked up to the highest level in a month last week, suggesting the labor market was largely stable even though job creation is weakening and it is taking laid-off workers longer to find new employment. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits for the week ended August 2 rose 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 226,000, the highest level since the week ending July 5, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 221,000 claims for the latest week. The labor market has slowed, with government data last week showing far fewer jobs were created in July than economists had expected as uncertainty over President Donald Trump's tariffs left businesses wary of adding workers. Moreover, employment gains in the previous two months were revised lower by nearly 260,000, a stunning reversal that prompted Trump to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics - a move that rattled investors and economists already anxious about the eroding quality of official U.S. economic data. The latest data on new claims indicates employers are not yet turning to large-scale layoffs as the economy loses steam but are managing through attrition. That has helped keep the unemployment rate, at 4.2% in July, relatively low even while job growth has slowed. Declining labor supply amid the White House's immigration crackdown is also helping to stave off a jump in the jobless rate. Employers' hesitancy to increase hiring means there are fewer jobs for those being laid off. The number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.974 million during the week ending July 26, the claims report showed. That was the highest level of so-called continued claims since November 2021, and the increase of 38,000 from the previous week was the largest since late May. Despite the rise in both new and ongoing claims last week, economists note the two continue to remain largely range-bound and have not exhibited the kind of breakout upswing that in the past has signaled a deteriorating job market. Indeed, the weekly net change in new claims has remained below 10,000 - in either direction - for 10 straight weeks, the longest such streak in about three years. "The sideways drift in initial and continuing claims in recent months suggests that layoff activity is muted," Thomas Simons, chief U.S. economist at Jefferies, wrote in a note. "The 'no hire/no fire' theme in the labor market remains firmly intact." That said, continued claims had been averaging less than 1.9 million until early May and in the three months since have averaged about 40,000 higher at about 1.94 million. That reset now makes more sense to some economists in light of the historic downward revision to the job creation figures for May and June that were revealed by BLS last week. "The level of continued claims is still signaling that unemployed workers are finding it tough to find a job in a labor market where hiring is slow," Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, wrote. "Moreover, the steep rise in claims since April makes more sense following the sharp downward revisions to job growth in May and June and the sluggish pace of hiring in July." Meanwhile, the Labor Department also said worker productivity rebounded more than expected in the second quarter, easing a surge in labor costs at the start of the year. Nonfarm business sector productivity increased 2.4% in the April-June period after declining by 1.8% in the first three months of the year, BLS reported. Economists polled by Reuters had expected productivity to rise by 2.0%. Worker output increased by 3.7%, the largest improvement since the third quarter of 2023, while unit labor cost growth moderated to 1.6% from an upwardly revised 6.9% in the first quarter. The data may be indicative of ongoing investments by businesses in labor-saving technologies like artificial intelligence, economists said. "Productivity growth is settling back into its historical trend after bouncing around because of the pandemic," said Oren Klachkin, financial market economist at Nationwide. "Looking ahead, businesses will likely invest in labor-saving technologies to cap their wage bills, which should exert downward pressure on inflation. Companies facing the greatest labor constraints will likely be the most incentivized to invest."