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US Stock Market LIVE Updates: Dow falls 200 points after report says Trump pushing for at least a 15% tariff on EU imports

Published on 18/07/2025 10:52 PM

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics plunged more than 30% on Friday as the future of its approved gene therapy treatment appeared at risk.

 

The Food and Drug Administration will request that the company voluntarily stop all shipments of the treatment, Elevidys, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.

 

Separately, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary told Bloomberg News the agency is considering whether the company’s gene therapy should stay on the market.

The European Union’s latest round of Russian sanctions have added yet more pressure on an already tight diesel market in the region that is a large importer of the fuel.

 

The EU confirmed on Friday that it would press ahead with a ban on the import of diesel that is made from Russian crude. Prior to the decision, some traders had been skeptical that the bloc would go through with such a step.

 

Even before the decision, there were signs of stress in Europe’s diesel market. Independently held inventories are low — as they are in the US — while spreads indicate tightness of the industrial fuel. The bloc gets about 15% of its seaborne diesel — about 240,000 barrels a day — from countries like India and Turkey that purchase crude from Russia, creating a question mark about what will become of that flow.

Gold gained after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller hinted that he would dissent if his colleagues vote to hold interest rates steady at their July meeting, making his case for a rate cut to support the labour market.

 

While it’s important not to dissent regularly, officials should take the step “if you make it very clear you think at this moment in time this is an important thing to do,” Waller said Friday in a Bloomberg TV interview.

 

Bond yields and the dollar pushed lower after Waller’s comments, helping lift bullion as much as 0.7%. The precious metal typically benefits in a lower rate environment as it pays no interest.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a leg lower Friday after President Donald Trump reportedly pushed for greater tariffs on the European Union. The 30-stock Dow fell 242 points, or 0.5%. The S&P 500 lost 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed about 0.1%.

 

Trump is demanding a minimum tariff of between 15% and 20% in any deal with the EU, the Financial Times reported, citing three people briefed on the talks. The EU is attempting to reach a trade deal with the U.S. ahead of Trump’s August 1 deadline, when Trump has vowed to begin implementing 30% tariffs on the bloc.

 

Traders also pored through the latest earnings reports and new U.S. economic data.

The founder of fashion platform CaaStle Inc. has been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding investors out of more than $300 million following the collapse her tech start-up.

 

Christine Hunsicker, 48, turned herself in to face the charges on Friday morning, the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan confirmed. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a lawsuit against Hunsicker on Friday, according to court records.

 

The legal moves come months after Hunsicker resigned as CaaStle’s chief executive officer over allegations she lied to investors about the company’s financial success. She faces charges including securities fraud, identity theft and money laundering.

Ally Financial Inc. shares fell after the lender left most of its forecast unchanged despite strong second-quarter consumer auto-loan originations and earnings.

 

The digital bank said its full-year net interest margin is still expected to fall between 3.4% and 3.5%, unchanged from its previous forecast, according to a company presentation Friday. A handful of Wall Street analysts said they’d hoped the firm would improve its guidance for NIM and other metrics.

 

“The charge-off guide is tightened to 2.00 to 2.15%, from 2.00-2.25% before,” Truist Securities analysts Brian Foran and Chris Lian said in a note. “Some may call this disappointing, as investors were hoping the low end would also come down.”

 

Ally shares dropped 2% to $39.42 at 11:59 a.m. in New York. Chief Financial Officer Russ Hutchinson said the guidance takes into account what the firm is seeing currently as well as anticipated changes this year.

Oil was little changed as traders weigh fresh efforts from the European Union to crimp Russian energy exports. West Texas Intermediate crude earlier gained as much as 2.1% to trade above $68 a barrel after the EU agreed to a lower price cap for Moscow’s crude as part of a package of sanctions on Moscow.

 

The measures include curbs on fuels made from Russian petroleum, additional banking limitations and a ban on a large oil refinery in India. The Asian country, which buys large amounts of Russian crude, is a major exporter of refined products to Europe, where markets for fuels like diesel have been tight.

The federal government workforce in and around the nation’s capital has shrunk by about 22,100 in the year through May, a new report shows, and that number is poised to mount.

 

Federal workers across Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia found themselves particularly vulnerable to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce government jobs and spending. Maryland saw the steepest decline in its federal workforce, dropping 5.4%, followed by Virginia, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

Prosus NV has offered to sell down its holding in Delivery Hero SE to help pave the way for regulatory approvals for its acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The European Commission had pressed Amsterdam-based Prosus to significantly reduce or divest its stake in the German food delivery firm, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. It’s unclear how much of the stake Prosus will ultimately sell and no final decisions have been made, they said.

 

The Dutch technology investor, which is controlled by the South African Naspers Group, owns 27% of Delivery Hero and is its largest shareholder.

Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. plunged for a second day on concerns that talks with environmental regulators to end a veto on its giant Alaska mining project are stagnating.

 

At stake is the Pebble mine project in southwest Alaska, which the company touts as the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold resource. The contentious project was effectively blocked under former US President Joe Biden over concerns it would hurt the region’s fisheries industry.

The founder of fashion platform CaaStle Inc. has surrendered to face fraud charges over the multimillion dollar collapse of the tech start-up.

 

Christine Hunsicker turned herself in to authorities on Friday morning, the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan confirmed. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Hunsicker Friday morning, according to court records.

 

The legal moves come months after Hunsicker resigned as CaaStle’s chief executive officer over allegations she lied to investors about the company’s financial success. Lawyers for Hunsicker didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

BC Partners has agreed to sell a majority stake in compliance software firm Navex to a consortium led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management in a deal valued at more than $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Blackstone Inc. will also become a minority investor in Navex as part of the transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. BC Partners, which is set to retain a stake as well, could announce a deal as soon as the next few days, the people said.

 

The transaction also comes as exits have been challenging for buyout firms in a tough dealmaking environment. Navex develops risk and compliance management software and counts Diageo Plc, Verizon Communications Inc. and Sharp Corp. among its customers, its website shows.

Zayo Group Holdings Inc. is nearing a tentative agreement with creditors that would extend maturities on some of the fiber-network operator’s multibillion-dollar debt pile, according to people familiar with the situation.

 

The framework would entail lenders of a nearly $5 billion secured loan due 2027 being partially paid and unsecured creditors receiving a coupon bump in return for agreeing to extend due dates, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.

 

Some added that the tentative deal would also address how Zayo plans to finance its pending acquisition of Crown Castle Inc. fiber assets.

US stocks shuffled between small gains and losses on Friday as declines in technology and growth shares offset gains elsewhere, with the S&P 500 Index still on track for a weekly advance after consumer sentiment rose to a five-month high.

 

The benchmark equities gauge was down less than 0.1% as of 10:30 a.m. in New York, after notching a fresh record a day earlier. The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.2% after also finishing at a fresh all-time high on Thursday.

 

While Netflix Inc.’s earnings results beat expectations on every major metric, broader gains were kept in check after the stock fell 4.8% following a nearly 40% rally since April. Netflix was the worst performer in the Nasdaq 100.

Talen Energy Corp. shares surged the most ever in intraday trading after announcing a $3.8 billion deal to buy two of the most efficient power plants on the largest US grid, joining a wave of deals by independent generators snapping up gas units to feed AI’s surging demand.

 

Talen will buy Caithness Energy’s Moxie Freedom Energy Center in Pennsylvania and Caithness and BlackRock’s Guernsey Power Station in Ohio, it said Thursday. Both assets are combined-cycle gas-fired plants and their combined capacity is nearly 3 gigawatts — enough to power about 2.4 million homes.

 

Talen’s shares rose as much as 24%, to about $324, at 9:54 am in New York. The stock has climbed 61% so far this year and is testing all-time highs, like many of its peers, as more gigawatt-sized data centers get announced.

Alternative asset manager Pollen Street Capital has raised €2 billion ($2.3 billion) for its private equity strategy, helped by increased appetite for mid-market deals in Europe, particularly from investors in North America.

 

The London-based firm’s Private Equity Fund V has secured €1.5 billion in commitments, exceeding its initial target of raising €1 billion, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News. The latest fund is also 85% larger than its predecessor fund that raised £700 million ($943 million) in 2021.

 

Pollen Street also drew in an additional €500 million of associated co-investment capital as part of the private equity strategy.

Garuda is paying twice as much to lease its latest Boeing Co. 737 Max jet than it does for the older 737 planes in its fleet, another potential blow to its finances as it tries to return to profitability.

 

The struggling Indonesian airline is paying around $400,000 per month for the 737 Max 8 it has leased from BOC Aviation Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The state-owned carrier pays on average $200,000 a month for its existing older Boeing 737-800 fleet, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing details that are private.

3M Co. raised its profit forecast and beat Wall Street’s estimates for the second quarter as Chief Executive Officer William Brown’s effort to reinvigorate the company gained momentum.

 

Adjusted earnings will be $7.75 to $8 a share this year, including the expected impact of tariffs, the maker of Post-it notes and Ace bandages said Friday in a statement. That was up from a prior range that topped out at $7.90, while analysts had expected about $7.70 on average in estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

 

Under Chief Executive Officer William Brown, 3M has put measures in place to mitigate tariffs, including shifting production and pricing changes. The maker of Post-it notes and Ace bandages had previously guided that tariffs could have a negative impact of as much as 40 cents a share on full-year earnings. In its latest outlook, 3M sees a net headwind of just 10 cents.

While many artificial intelligence tools are aimed at software developers and office workers, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker are investing in a startup deploying the technology for dirty, time-consuming infrastructure maintenance tasks like pest control and inspecting power poles and air-conditioning systems.

 

San Francisco-based BrightAI has raised a $51 million Series A round led by Khosla Ventures and Pritzker’s Inspired Capital, along with BoxGroup, Marlinspike and VSC Ventures. The round valued the company at around $300 million, according to a person familiar with the company who didn’t want to be named discussing financial details. Upfront Ventures led a previous round, and the company has raised a total of $78 million.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb is in the US to negotiate Washington’s demands as part of trade talks ahead of an August deadline, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Aurangzeb’s visit comes after an earlier Pakistani delegation was given an exhaustive list of demands from the US to cut the country’s tariff and non-tariff barriers as conditions for a trade deal, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because they are not authorised to speak on the matter. Pakistan earlier expected to wrap up a deal by early July, but the talks are taking longer than expected.

 

Aurangzeb did not respond to a text message seeking further information.

Egypt plans to issue $4 billion of international bonds over the next 12 months, seeking to diversify its financing sources while overhauling the economy after the worst crisis in a generation.

 

Authorities are mulling instruments that include euro- and dollar-denominated securities and sustainability bonds to take care of about 40% of Egypt’s external funding needs for the current fiscal year, according to Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk.

 

“We plan to have $4 billion of capital market access with a couple of transactions,” he said in an interview in London, where he’s attending investor meetings.

The UK is looking to participate in European purchases of US military equipment for Ukraine, as allies seize on Donald Trump’s more hostile stance toward Russia, even if it means financing the weapons themselves.

 

Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, will discuss what role the UK will play in the purchase program during a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Monday.

 

The UK’s contribution could see it jointly purchasing Patriot air-defense systems with Germany, or separately buying other weapons and munitions from the US for Ukraine, with both options under consideration, according to people familiar with the plans.

 

Trump this week agreed to supply more materiel to the government in Kyiv, including Patriots, other air-defense systems and munitions, provided they were funded by NATO allies.

Barcelona is set to reduce the number of port terminals for cruise ships in the city’s latest attempt to limit the number of tourist visits.

 

Spain’s third-largest port will cut the number of terminals used by cruises to five from seven, with the aim of making the arrival of the ships “more controlled and sustainable,” Barcelona’s city council said in a statement Thursday.

 

“For the first time ever, limits are being placed on cruise growth in the city,” Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni said in the statement. The number of cruise passengers increased by 20% from 2018 to 2024.

US housing starts rebounded in June on the strength of multifamily building, while weakness in the larger single-family market pointed to ongoing struggles with bloated inventories and affordability constraints.

 

New residential construction increased 4.6% to an annualised rate of 1.32 million homes last month, picking up after an almost 10% slide in May, according to government figures released Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg issued a median estimate of 1.30 million.

 

While apartment contractors were busier, the overall malaise in new-home construction is a sign builders are slowing their investment as they work to clear a new-home inventory that’s ballooned to a more than 17-year high. Developers are now competing with a growing supply of previously owned homes as well, as homeowners have come to terms with mortgage rates near 7% and list their properties for sale.

Issuance of euro-denominated ESG bonds is likely to see a pronounced decline in 2025, as negative sentiment fanned by political backlash weighs on the market, according to analysts at ABN Amro NV.

 

ESG issuance is “expected to considerably lag in 2025,” amid “a noticeable surge in negative news related to ESG in the first half of the year,” analysts Marta Ferro Teixeira and Filipa de Carvalho Tomás wrote in a note on Friday.

 

They now see issuance of €247 billion ($287 billion), down from an earlier forecast of €266 billion. In 2024, issuance reached €272 billion, they said.

Charles Schwab Corp. reported earnings per share that topped estimates as the firm said client assets hit a new record and trading revenue rose.

 

Schwab posted adjusted earnings per share of $1.14 while total client assets climbed 14% to $10.76 trillion compared to the same period last year, according to a statement. Revenue from client trades jumped 23% to $952 million.

 

“Retail investors and RIAs continued to turn to Schwab as a trusted partner, opening over 1 million new brokerage accounts,” said Charles Schwab Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster.

 

Still, the firm attracted $73.6 billion in total net new assets, which was below analyst expectations. Daily average revenue trades also just narrowly topped analyst forecasts at 7.57 million in a quarter characterised by market turmoil from President Donald Trump’s tariff and policy changes. Shares were up about 1.8% in early New York trading.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said worries about hiring in the private sector have driven his call for the central bank to cut rates this month. “The private sector is not doing as well as everybody thinks it is,” Waller said Friday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

 

A monthly employment report for June, published on July 3, showed a sharp slowdown in private-sector job growth and a deceleration in wage growth, even as the unemployment rate ticked lower.

 

His comments follow a speech he delivered Thursday in New York in which he argued that with inflation risks limited, the US central bank ought to lower borrowing costs before the labour market begins to deteriorate.

Meta Platforms Inc. said it won’t sign the code of practice for Europe’s new set of laws governing artificial intelligence, calling the guidelines to help companies follow the AI Act overreach.

 

“Europe is heading down the wrong path on AI,” Meta’s head of global affairs Joel Kaplan said in a post on LinkedIn. “This code introduces a number of legal uncertainties for model developers, as well as measures which go far beyond the scope of the AI Act.”

 

The European Union published the code of practice earlier this month. It’s a voluntary framework meant to help companies put processes in place to stay in line with the bloc’s sprawling AI Act, and includes copyright protections for creators and transparency requirements for advanced AI models.

 

It also requires developers to provide documentation to describe their AI models’ features. Agreeing to the code can give companies more legal protection if they’re accused of falling foul of the act.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be required to wear an electronic ankle monitor after police carried out search warrants against him on Friday, local press reported.

 

Bolsonaro, who is about to stand trial over an alleged coup attempt, will also face restrictions on social media use, local media said. His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

The federal police said in a statement that they carried out two search and seizure warrants, “in addition to precautionary measures other than imprisonment.” The statement didn’t mention Bolsonaro by name but referred to the case he is involved in before the Supreme Court. Brazil’s Supreme Court didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UK government sanctioned 18 people it named as spies from Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency who it said were responsible for conducting cyber and hybrid warfare operations against Britain and Ukraine.

 

One of the sanctioned GRU units carried out online reconnaissance to help target missile strikes against Mariupol in Ukraine, enabling a 2022 attack that destroyed a theater in the city killing hundreds of civilians, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

 

Russia’s military intelligence officers also targeted the device of Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former spy Sergei Skripal who Russian agents tried to kill in the UK in 2018, according to the statement. That operation involved using malware known as X-Agent five years before the assassination attempt, it said.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.