AP Business Writer Alex Veiga
Stock will be mixed in Tuesday morning deals, the day after a major sale, following the Trump administration’s decision to impose new import duties that will come into effect on more than a dozen countries next month.
The S&P 500 has been below 0.1% per day since posting its biggest drop since June. The benchmark index was close to the best ever set last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 59 points (0.2%) as of 11:13am Eastern time, with the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.1%.
Bond yields were almost high. Treasury yields rose to 4.42% in 2010 from 4.39% late Monday.
On Monday, President Donald Trump set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, and set a new tariff rate in dozens of other countries scheduled to come into effect on August 1.
Trump provided the notice by posting letters about the true society addressed to leaders of various countries. The letter warned them not to retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would increase tariffs even more.
Just before US tariffs on goods imported from almost every country around the world came into effect in April, Trump postponed the taxation for 90 days, hoping that foreign governments would attack new trade deals more enthusiastically. That 90-day negotiation period was set to expire by Wednesday.
With tariffs scheduled to begin on August 1, the latest move by the White House is essentially a four-week extension of the previous 90-day suspension, writes Tobin Marcus, analyst at Wolfe Research.
“On a very basic level, there’s no reason to panic the headline because nothing really happened based on Trump sending these letters,” he writes. “But these moves include signals as to where the trade war is heading, and the signals are mostly Takis.”
This latest phase in the trade war raises the potentially more serious tariff threat lies in the global economy. Higher taxes on imports can hinder economic growth without increasing the risk of a recession.
The gains between healthcare and technology stocks helped outperform the pullbacks of banks and other sectors.
Intel Rose 6.5% and Eli Lilly and Co. were up 2.3%. JPMorgan fell 3.1%, while Bank of America fell 2.9%.
Amazon’s stock fell 1.2% as online retail giants launched Prime Day. This will last for four days starting this year. Amazon launched a membership sales event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019.
Elsewhere in the market, initial solar fell 3.1% after Trump issued an executive order ending subsidies for foreign controlled energy companies.
Hershey Co. fell 2.7% after the chocolate maker announced that Wendy CEO Kirk Tanner would take over his retirement current CEO Michele Buck.
Shares in WeightWatchers Parent WW International rose 3.5% after the company announced it had completed a reorganization and relisted it on Nasdaq. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, eliminating its $1.15 billion in debt and focusing on moving to a telehealth service provider.
This week’s downbeat start came to another record high last week after a strong stock run followed by a better-than-expected US employment report.
In overseas stock markets, indexes rose in most parts of Europe and Asia. Two major moves saw the Korean Cospi surge 1.8% and the Hong Kong Hangsen index rose 1.1%.
US benchmark crude oil rose 0.1%, while international standard Brent crude oil rose 0.4%.
The National Federation of Independent Business reported on Tuesday that its SME optimism index fell slightly last month, in line with analysts’ expectations. The index tracks how small and medium-sized businesses view the outlook for the US economy and its business.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release minutes from last month’s policymaking committee meeting. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank wants to wait and see how Trump’s tariffs will affect the economy and inflation.
Original issue: July 8, 2025, 7:35am EDT
