Cailian Press, July 22nd (Editor: Niu Zhanlin)
On Monday Eastern Time, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes closed at all-time highs, mainly boosted by Google A and other large-cap stocks. This week, investors will focus on the earnings reports of the seven giants and await progress in trade negotiations.
As President Trump’s August 1st tariff deadline approaches, this poses a significant test for the U.S. stock market bull market. Since the beginning of the year, the S&P 500 has risen by about 8%, with investors betting that the economic losses caused by tariffs will be smaller than feared.
Last Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross expressed optimism about reaching an agreement with the EU. “I believe we can reach an agreement, which is good for the United States, as the president is a strong backbone for the country.”
However, EU diplomats revealed that due to the increasingly dim prospects of reaching an acceptable trade agreement with the U.S. government, the EU is contemplating broader retaliatory measures.
Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 30% on goods imported from Mexico and the EU, and he also sent letters to Canada, Japan, and Brazil among other trading partners, setting tariffs between 20% and 50%.
Matt Maley, an analyst at Miller Tabak, stated that the Trump administration may take a more aggressive stance on tariff issues in the future, which is becoming increasingly clear. Therefore, the key lies in determining whether the current stock market has already factored in this factor into its expectations.
He added, “This week’s earnings season will unfold comprehensively, and corporate guidance is now more important than ever. If the market is to achieve some of the goals set by Wall Street, these guidance statements must significantly raise corporate earnings expectations.”
Investors will also pay attention to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Tuesday, looking for clues about when the Fed might cut interest rates, especially after last week’s mixed signals regarding inflation.
According to the Federal Reserve Observation Tool from 芝商所, traders essentially ruled out a rate cut in July, now believing that the likelihood of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September exceeds 50%.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to exert pressure on Powell, with Anna Paulina Luna, a US House member, filing criminal charges against Federal Reserve Chairman Powell on Monday, alleging that he made two false statements.
By the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 19.12 points, or 0.04%, to 44323.07; the Nasdaq Composite rose by 78.52 points, or 0.38%, to 20974.17; and the S&P 500 Index increased by 8.81 points, or 0.14%, to 6305.60.
Among the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 Index, the telecommunications sector rose by 1.9%, the information technology/technology sector by 0.13%, and the energy sector fell by 0.96%.
In the U.S. stock industry ETFs, the network stocks index ETF rose by 0.65%, the discretionary consumer ETF by 0.47%, the tech industry ETF, global tech stocks index ETF, global aviation ETF, and the semiconductor ETF rose by approximately 0.1%, while banking ETF, financial services ETF, regional bank ETF saw their maximum decline of 0.32%, and the energy sector ETF fell by 1.04%.
Large tech stocks experienced mixed results, with Google A up by 2.72%, Amazon up by 1.43%, Meta up by 1.23%, Apple up by 0.62%, Microsoft roughly flat, and Tesla down by 0.35%, while Nvidia fell by 0.60%.
The precious metals, metals, and mining sectors led the gains, with Century Aluminum rising more than 9%, and America Silver Co. and Pan American Silver nearly up by 5%.
Following an upward revision of its annual performance guidance by Verizon Communications, the stock price rose by more than 4%.
Block shares surged by more than 7%, with the company about to be included in the S&P 500 index, solidifying its position in the financial technology sector.
Popular Chinese concept stocks closed with mixed results, with the Nasdaq China Gold Dragon Index falling by 0.28%, while Huya soared by 16%, NIO nearly rose by 3%, Pinduoduo surged by more than 2%, Li Auto fell by more than 4%, and JD.com dropped by more than 1%.
Neuralink achieved two surgeries within a single day for the first time.
Musk’s brain-machine interface company Neuralink announced on the 22nd that “We successfully completed surgeries P8 and P9 this weekend, marking our first instance of completing two surgeries in one day. Both patients are recovering well and mentally stable,” Musk stated. He mentioned that Neuralink ultimately aims to change the lives of millions or even billions of people. Musk wrote: “Imagine your loved ones walking again, or parents suffering from dementia recognizing their children.”
JPMorgan Chase has restructured its leadership team for its quantum computing and other advanced technologies research group comprehensively. Insiders revealed that Marco Pistriano, a former IBM inventor, had recently left his position as head of JPMorgan Chase’s Application Research Group. According to an employee memo sent on Monday, JPMorgan Chase has hired Rob Otter, head of global digital technology and quantum computing at Deutsche Bank, to replace Pistriano.
OpenAI and the UK have signed a strategic partnership.
On Monday local time, the British government announced a “strategic partnership” with OpenAI, which will engage in deep cooperation in key areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) security research and infrastructure investment. The British government stated that OpenAI would expand its London office size and further enrich its research and engineering teams.
The office is the first overseas site established by OpenAI two years ago, and this expansion is seen as a further upgrade of its global strategy. OpenAI has committed to investing in AI infrastructure such as data centers and has hired more staff in the UK, though details on how much will be spent have not been provided. OpenAI will also share technical details with the UK’s AI Security Research Institute, helping the government precisely understand the boundaries of AI capabilities and potential security risks. In return, the UK government has pledged to adopt OpenAI’s AI technology in public services such as justice, defense and security, and education technology. This may require the use of millions of British citizens’ data to create AI-driven digital services.