Global Markets Fall on Latest Tariff Developments

By Dow Jones Newswires Staff

U.S. stock futures pointed to a weaker open at the start of a week when inflation data and big bank earnings roll in. Global stock markets were mostly in the red on Monday after President Trump said the U.S. will charge a 30% tariff on goods from the European Union and Mexico effective Aug. 1. The dollar was up, long-term Treasury yields ticked higher, and bitcoin hit a fresh record.

Ahead, JP Morgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo report earnings Tuesday followed by Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. U.S. inflation data for June are released on Tuesday with inflation prints also due this week from Canada and the eurozone.

• U.S. stock futures for the S&P, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq were all down around 0.5% early in European hours.
• European bourses started the day down between 0.6% and 0.8%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 bucked the trend, last trading up around 0.2%. At the close in Asia it was another mixed bag; China's trade sector received a boost from the recent pause in reciprocal tariffs between the U.S. and China. That helped push mainland stock markets up, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3%.
• The U.S. dollar rose to a nearly three-week high against a basket of currencies, as investors weigh how Trump's trade tactics may play out. "If Trump actually manages to extract significant concessions from U.S. trading partners by threatening them with tariffs, this could be seen as positive for the dollar," said Commerzbank's Thu Lan Nguyen. The DXY dollar index hit a high of 98.100 in recent trading. Both the euro and Mexican peso were trading lower against the dollar.
• Bitcoin hit yet another record high above $121,000 amid higher institutional interest as confidence in sovereign currencies wanes. Key crypto legislation in the U.S. this week could further smooth barriers to institutional participation and add regulatory certainty.
• Inflation and trade-policy concerns continued to pose a headwind for U.S. Treasurys, amid a continued widening of the gap between short- and long-dated Treasury yields. The three-year Treasury yield was last down 1.6 basis points to 3.868% while the 30-year yield was up 1.5 basis points at 4.972%, according to Tradeweb.
• That gap is also widening in Japan's bond market ahead of the country's Upper House election on July 20 and amid concerns over fiscal spending. The two-year JGB yield earlier was up 1.5 basis points at 0.775%, while the 30-year yield climbed 10.5 bps to 3.145%.
• Oil prices were up as investors awaited further details on President Trump's "major statement" on Russia later on Monday after he voiced frustration with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. Brent crude and WTI were both up 0.5% to $70.69 and $68.80 a barrel, respectively, with potential further sanctions on Russia having the potential to shift the outlook.

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