Global Markets Slip as Investors Digest Tariff Moves

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

Stock markets tracked U.S. stock futures lower early on Friday after Wall Street notched fresh record highs in the previous session. Late Thursday, U.S. President Trump said he would put a 35% tariff on imports from Canada effective Aug. 1, hard on the heels of his threat of a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports. Ahead of earnings season, though, stock markets have largely taken the most recent round of tariff broadsides in their stride.

• U.S. futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 0.4%, both indexes having hit new records on Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 0.5%.
• In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.5% in morning trading. In local markets, Italy's FTSE MIB was down 0.7% with falls of about 0.5% for Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was pretty much flat after monthly U.K. GDP data came in weaker-than-expected, increasing the chances of the Bank of England cutting interest rates in August.
• Asian stock markets closed mixed; Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.9% and China's benchmark Shanghai Composite was flat. South Korea's Kospi ended down 0.2% but remained 4.0% higher on the week.
• The dollar continued to make steady gains against a basket of currencies, as markets coped better with Trump's drip feed of tariff announcements. The DXY dollar index was last up 0.2% to 97.824 after hitting a two-week high of 97.921 Thursday.
• Bitcoin hit a fresh record high, driven by interest from institutional investors and supportive measures from President Trump, Tickmill Group's Patrick Munnelly said in a note. The cryptocurrency hit a high of $118,407, LSEG data show, and was last up 3.5% at $117,533.
• The Canadian dollar remained weaker after hitting a two-week low against the U.S. dollar overnight following President Trump's latest tariff threat. The U.S. dollar was up 0.3% to 1.3693 Canadian dollars, after hitting a high of 1.3731 overnight, LSEG data show.
• The U.S. 30-year Treasury yield was up 2.5 basis points at 4.885%, according to Tradeweb, after a decent auction on Thursday after which yields drifted down to intraday lows. The two-year Treasury yield was last up 1 basis point at 3.874% and the 10-year rose almost 2 basis points to 4.363%.
• Oil prices rose, with Brent crude up 0.4% at $68.91 a barrel and WTI up 0.5% at $66.91 a barrel as fresh Houthi attacks on cargo vessels transiting the Red Sea add a risk premium. Also supportive, Bloomberg reported Thursday that OPEC+ is discussing a pause in further production increases from October.

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