Cailian Press, July 23rd (Editor: Niu Zhanlin) – On Tuesday Eastern Time, the three major stock indexes experienced mixed gains and losses. The S&P 500 index barely closed at a record high, with investors focusing on corporate earnings for the second quarter and seeking signs of progress in US trade negotiations.
The optimistic investment in artificial intelligence is becoming the “anchor” that keeps the most valuable companies on Wall Street rising, leading the three major indexes to hover around historical highs.
Ross Mayfield, an investment strategy analyst at Baird, pointed out, “The market is digesting recent gains and is currently in a phase of consolidation and wait-and-see. In the next one or two weeks, two major catalysts are set to hit the ground: the August 1 deadline for tariffs, and the closely-scheduled key earnings reports from the seven major US stocks.”
As Trump’s imposed tariff deadline for many countries approaches, the US trade policy remains a major uncertainty for investors and businesses alike.
According to news reports, Trump stated on Tuesday that he had met with visiting Philippine President Marcos at the White House, reaching a trade agreement. Trump announced that he would impose a 19% tariff on the Philippines, which would open its market to the US and implement zero tariffs.
However, other trade negotiations seem to have stalled, with hopes for a breakthrough in India diminishing, and EU officials considering retaliatory measures against the US.
Furthermore, Trump once again targeted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, demanding a quick rate cut and labeling him “utterly foolish,” stating that Powell will soon be gone.
After last week’s mixed economic data release, traders almost ruled out the Fed’s likelihood of cutting rates at its next policy meeting. According to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Fed Watch tool, they now believe there is about a 60% chance of a rate cut in September.
UBS Global Wealth Management analysts stated: “We anticipate that as the August tariff deadline approaches, market volatility will intensify, while the threat to the Fed’s independence and geopolitical uncertainty continue to be a backdrop.”
By the close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 179.37 points, an increase of 0.40%, to 44502.44 points; the Nasdaq fell by 81.49 points, a decrease of 0.39%, to 20892.69 points; the S&P 500 index increased by 4.02 points, a rise of 0.06%, to 6309.62 points.
Among U.S. stock industry ETFs, the Biotechnology Index ETF closed up 2.87%, the Healthcare Industry ETF and the Public Utilities ETF at most rose by 1.86%, the Consumer Discretionary ETF rose by 1.01%, the Banking ETF, Financial Services ETF, Energy ETF, Regional Bank ETF at most rose by 0.62%, the Global Technology Stocks Index ETF fell by 1.08%, and the Semiconductor ETF fell by 1.77%.
In the S&P 500, nine out of eleven sectors were up, with the healthcare sector leading the gains, rising by 1.9%, and the real estate sector increasing by 1.78%.
Major tech stocks saw mixed results, with Google A up by 0.65%, Apple up by 0.9%, Tesla up by 1.1%, Nvidia down by 2.54%, Meta down by 1.14%, Microsoft down by 0.94%, and Amazon down by 0.80%.
The recent trend of retail investors flocking to certain stocks continues to spread, with Kohl’s surge more than 37%, Opendoor Technology plummeting by 10%, and some analysts predict that this wave of meme stocks will fade away at a faster pace.
General Motors fell by more than 8%, with its second-quarter earnings report showing that due to tariffs, it lost $1.1 billion in the quarter, and its net profit for the second quarter plummeted by 35.4% year-over-year, exacerbating investors’ concerns about Trump’s global trade policies.
Hot Chinese concept stocks surged, with the NASDAQ China Golden Dragon Index closing up 1.7%, NIO soaring over 10%, Baidu increasing by more than 4%, XPeng Motors and Pinduoduo both rising by more than 3%, and JD.com and Li Auto both surging over 1%.
[OpenAI announces agreement with Oracle for a massive data center]
In the evening of Tuesday in Beijing time, OpenAI released a statement announcing an agreement with Oracle to develop an additional 4.5 gigawatt “Stargate” data center. The announcement stated that, along with the construction of the “Stargate I” project currently underway in Abilene, Texas, the latest agreement has increased the capacity of the “Stargate” AI data center in the United States to over 5 gigawatts, capable of running about 2 million chips. OpenAI specifically highlighted that the commitment made in January with partners such as SoftBank and Oracle at the White House was to invest $50 billion in building 10 gigawatts of AI infrastructure in the United States over the next four years. Thanks to the strong momentum from partners, it is now expected that “Stargate” will exceed its initial commitment.
[Apple’s adjustments to App Store rules and fees may receive approval from EU antitrust authorities]
Sources say Apple’s adjustments to its App Store rules and fees are likely to receive approval from the European Union’s antitrust regulators, which could avoid potential hefty daily fines. Last month, Apple announced that developers would have to pay a 20% processing fee for purchases through the App Store, but for Apple’s small business program, the fee could be reduced to as low as 13%. Developers who direct users to make payments outside the App Store would pay between 5% and 15%. Additionally, they can use any number of links to guide users to external payment channels. In April this year, the EU’s antitrust enforcement agency issued a fine of €500 million (approximately $500 million) against Apple.
A fine of $86.7 billion was imposed on Apple, and the company was given 60 days to comply with the Digital Markets Act. Insiders say that the European Commission is expected to approve these changes in the coming weeks, although the timing could change.
[XAI, a startup by Musk, plans to raise $12 billion]
According to media reports, XAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup owned by Elon Musk, is preparing to raise $12 billion to maintain its leading position in the AI arms race. Insiders revealed that just a few weeks after XAI secured $9 billion through equity and debt financing, the startup has partnered with Valor Equity Partners to embark on a new round of fundraising worth up to $12 billion. Musk stated on Tuesday that XAI is training Grok in a supercomputer cluster called Colossus 1, using 230,000 GPUs, including 30,000 Nvidia’s GB200 AI chips.
[Amazon acquires AI-powered wearables manufacturer Bee]
Amazon acquired the startup Bee, which produces a wearable AI assistant priced at $50. The co-founder of this San Francisco-based company, Lurd de Zoro, announced the acquisition on LinkedIn. A bracelet developed by Bee records and transcrits user activities, using this information to generate to-do lists and summaries of conversations. Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller said that as part of the agreement, all employees of Bee were invited to join Amazon.
[The Triumph Over the Trump-Musk Rift Continues: SpaceX May Lose Its Dominance in the Golden Dome Project]
According to three sources, the Trump administration is expanding its efforts to find partners to build the “Golden Dome” missile defense system. It is courting Amazon’s Kuiper project and major defense contractors, indicating a shift away from relying solely on SpaceX, which has become the core of U.S. military communications with its Starlink and StarShield satellite networks. The relationship between Trump and Musk is deteriorating, leading to an open feud on June 5th. Sources say that even before the dispute escalated, officials at the Pentagon and White House had begun exploring alternatives for SpaceX, concerned about relying too heavily on one partner to undertake most of the $175 billion space-based defense system.