Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are floating around in mixed Wall Street trading Thursday after President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs came into effect on dozens of countries.
The S&P 500 fell 0.1% after climbing to the edge of a record set later last month and earlier in the day. Dow Jones’ industrial average was 330 points (0.7%) at 11:45am Eastern time, while Nasdaq Composite was 0.4% higher.
There is still high concern that Trump’s tariffs are damaging the economy, especially after a worse-than-expected report on the job market last week. But we hope that the Federal Reserve cuts in interest rates and a torrent of profit reports stronger than expected from large U.S. companies will help offset concerns at least for now. Lower interest rates can increase the economy and investment prices, but the downside is that they can also increase inflation.
The Bank of England cut key interest rates on Thursday in hopes of strengthening the UK economy’s slump.
The US tariffs that came into effect Thursday morning are already well known, and are lower than Trump initially threatened. Some countries are still trying to negotiate tax rates on exports, and ongoing uncertainty appears to be Wall Street’s only certainty. Meanwhile, US stock markets have faced criticism that prices have been too high and too fast since bottoming out in April.
Meanwhile, the latest report on the US economy has been mixed as it left the Treasury Department, which has been relatively stable in the bond market.
One said he applied for unemployment benefits last week, which saw a slight increase. It may be a sign of rising layoffs, but that number remains within recent range.
“I can’t see anything here!” According to Carl Weinberg, chief economist in radio frequency economics. “These are almost no recession measurements.”
Another report said productivity for U.S. workers improved more over the spring than economists expected. It could help the US economy grow without putting pressure on inflation. And that’s especially important when Trump’s tariffs appear to be set up to raise all sorts of prices that US households and businesses buy.
On Wall Street, Apple helped lead the market in hopes that a massive scale could navigate Trump’s economy. Shares rose 3% after CEO Tim Cook joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday, saying that investments in US manufacturing have increased by $100 billion over the next four years.
Trump also announced a 100% tariff on imported computer chips, but added, “If it is built in the United States, there is no charge.”
“We are pleased to announce that Brian Jacobsen, Chief Economist at Annex Wealth Management,” said: “It’s the greatest survival.”
Doordash rose 4.8% after the delivery app broke its profit expectations for Wall Street in the latest quarter. It attracted new customers and increased the total number of orders.
Duolingo, a language learning app, rose 28.9% after crushing Wall Street expectations. The company said subscription revenues rose 46% in the same period last year.
They helped offset Eli Lily’s decline. Eli Lily fell 14.7% despite drugmakers reporting profits in the most recent quarter than analysts expected. Analysts said some investors were disappointed by the results of Lily providing a late-stage study of a potential pill version of Zepbound, a popular weight loss drug.
Inter sank 3% after Trump called on CEOs to step down, but he accused him of being “very contradictory” but there was no evidence.
Crocs fell 25.2% despite reporting profits in the recent quarter than analysts expected. While tariffs are dragging profitability, we expect revenue to fall by 9% to 11% this quarter. The company cited “continuous uncertainty due to evolving global trade policy and related pressures on consumers.”
In overseas stock markets, indexes rose in most parts of Europe and Asia.
Shares rose 0.2% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Hong Kong after China reported exports picked up in July.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6%. Toyota Motor’s stock fell after cutting its full-year revenue forecasts, mainly due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but Sony rose after entertainment and electronics companies showed less damage from tariffs than expected.
In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield remained at 4.22%, late Wednesday.
AP business writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
Original issue: August 7, 2025, 9:47am EDT
