Futures fall on tariff news, record first-half trading, AI start-up progress, and more… ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Thursday's Markets S&P 500 6,279 (+0.83%) Nasdaq 20,601 (+1.02%) Dow 44,829 (+0.77%) Bitcoin 109,904 (+0.43%) |
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1. Stock Futures Sink on Tariff Jitters
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S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures fell this morning after President Donald Trump confirmed that country-specific tariffs will come into effect on Aug. 1, after both indexes hit new all-time highs last week. As the previous deadline for the July 9 pause looms, the president said he’ll be sending letters to trading partners starting today. |
| “We’re going to be very busy over the next 72 hours.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN’s "State of the Union" that countries with no deal by July 9 have the option of a three-week extension and suggested Trump’s letters aren’t the final word on immediate tariff rates. “An additional 10% tariff”: The president announced an added punitive rate against “any country aligning themselves with the anti-American policies of BRICS,” saying there’ll be no exceptions. The group, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, covers half the world’s population. |
2. Record Stock Market Trades |
Nasdaq data shows retail investor trades hit a record of over $6.6 trillion in the first half of 2025, with total buys of around $3.4 trillion outweighing $3.2 trillion in sales. It comes despite high volatility in the period, uncertainties around global trade, and inflation fears -- though a $4.7 billion one-day buying record in April in response to the “Liberation Day” tariffs dip helped. |
| “Retail investors remain a major force in the market.” Vanda Research put first-half net buys lower at $155 billion, but that’s still the largest net investing inflow since the firm’s records began in 2014. “Some complacency has crept in.” Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Chief Investment Strategist Liz Ann Sonders told Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid that “retail favorites or meme stocks, unprofitable tech” have been swinging investment toward higher risk. |
Artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker Groq has opened its first data center in Europe in partnership with Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX), located in Helsinki, Finland. It follows other U.S. companies investing in the rising demand for AI in Europe. |
| “We expect to be serving traffic starting by the end of this week.” CEO Jonathan Ross explained that the company’s language processing units (LPUs) don’t need the expensive and limited-supply support components required by Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) chips, and its technology can be up and running quickly. Valued at $2.8 billion: Groq, valued at less than a thousandth of Nvidia, makes LPUs designed for inference -- the process by which trained AI models use live data to produce results -- rather than training. Training is currently dominated by Nvidia chips. |
4. What to Watch this Week |
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) will post a second-quarter earnings update Thursday, after beating earnings expectations in Q1. Cost management is a key thing to watch in the near term, as TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald said “We believe U.S. airline shares will be biased downward over the near term due to persistent pricing weakness.” |
| Down 24% year to date: We’ll have Q4 and full-year results from ConAgra Brands (NYSE:CAG) the same day, with analysts expecting a 3% decline in revenue and a 12.7% drop in earnings to $2.33 per share. Up 1,396% in five years: Focused in Latin America, energy-efficiency technologist Vista Energy (NYSE:VIST) beat earnings expectations in Q1 with $0.86 per share after a 38% revenue rise. Forecasts suggest $1.04 per share in Q2, with results due Friday. |
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