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US Stock Market LIVE Updates: Dow ticks higher as investors bet Trump’s tariffs will be lowered

Published on 14/07/2025 08:04 PM

Economists have long been warning of a tariff-driven boost to US inflation. The next report on consumer prices will put their conviction to the test.

 

After four months of overestimating readings on the consumer price index, forecasters are predicting an acceleration in June data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics on Tuesday. Advances in tariff-exposed categories, including furniture, toys and recreational goods, as well as cars, are seen putting an end to the streak of benign figures.

 

It’s a tough position to be in for the Federal Reserve, which has defended holding interest rates steady this year in anticipation of tariff-driven inflation that hasn’t shown up yet. Another tame number would all but certainly draw more ire from President Donald Trump — who’s repeatedly called for the central bank to lower rates and criticised Chair Jerome Powell personally.

Turkish companies are struggling under a prolonged period of high borrowing costs, a senior official from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government said, adding he’s championing a proposal to facilitate loan restructuring.

 

Filings for insolvencies have shot up by 70% compared to the previous year, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party in charge of economic affairs, Nihat Zeybekci, told Bloomberg in an interview last week. To prevent a further increase, the AKP official and former economy minister said he’s pushing for measures for companies to get debt relief for at least a year — a “preventative measure”.

 

“Companies need capital and because they can’t meet that need from their equity or profits there’s only one source of capital left and that’s financial institutions and the banking system,” Zeybekci said. But then these companies are met with high interest, he added.

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said she wants to see inflation lowered further before she’d support a cut in interest rates.

 

“We’re not there yet on the inflation side of the mandate,” Hammack said Monday in an interview with Fox Business News. “I think it’s important that we wait and see how all the new policies that have been put forward are going to impact inflation.”

 

The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady again when it meets July 29-30 in Washington. Two policymakers have suggested they might support a cut at that meeting, but most others have signalled they want more time to assess the impact of tariffs on inflation.

The world’s largest swimming pool maker will likely hike prices for a second time this year as a result of US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs.

 

“I think we’ll have to raise prices somewhat due to tariffs,” Fluidra SA Chief Executive Officer Jaime Ramirez said in an interview. “How much, I can’t tell you right now, because it depends on what they announce about China in the coming weeks.”

 

Barcelona-based Fluidra is not alone in lifting prices this year in the US, where it’s the second-largest poolmaker. Rival Pentair Plc has done so too, and that’s without taking into account industrywide annual increases that are normally announced in September.

 

Half of the pool equipment Fluidra sells in the US is manufactured in Mexico, with 15% made in China and other markets such as India, Malaysia and Vietnam, Ramirez said. About 45% of Fluidra’s revenue comes from North America.

Bitcoin breached $120,000 for the first time, with investor enthusiasm showing few signs of dimming as the US House of Representatives prepares to consider key industry legislation during its “Crypto Week” starting Monday.

 

The cryptocurrency bellwether rose as much as 3.4% to $123,205 before giving up some gains to trade around $121,600 as of 9:19 a.m. in New York. Ether, the second-largest token, also advanced beyond $3,000, along with a host of smaller coins such as XRP and Uniswap.

 

After surging on the election of Donald Trump to a second US presidential term, Bitcoin had settled into a pattern of fluctuating on either side of $100,000 for several months. Concern about Trump’s political and economic policies had helped to temper optimism over the pro-crypto agenda of his administration. Now, with other risk assets such as US stocks back around record highs, Bitcoin has also resumed its push higher.

Stocks were mostly lower Monday after President Donald Trump threatened high tariffs on more countries over the weekend, but losses were kept in check as investors bet those duties will eventually be negotiated down.

 

Investors were also optimistic about the second-quarter earnings season, which ramps up this week.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 119 points lower, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite hovered around the flatline.

Orange juice futures rose to a three-month high in New York on mounting worries that President Donald Trump’s threat to slap a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods will curb supplies to the US.

 

The most active contract rose as much as 8.7% to $3.1385 a pound, the highest since March 6. Futures of orange juice have rallied since Trump’s announcement last week of the tariff, which risks upending trade in commodities ranging from coffee to beef.

 

The threat of disruption to supplies of orange juice comes at a time when the US has grown increasingly reliant on Brazilian imports amid a decline in production in Florida, according to Craig Elliott, market analyst at Expana.

 

Though the impact of the import tariff “remains uncertain, the amount of orange juice trade potentially affected is significant,” said Elliott. That “could potentially further erode Brazil’s competitiveness amid an already challenging market environment.”

China Vanke Co. said its loss for the first half of 2025 could reach $1.67 billion, underscoring the lingering problems in the nation’s property market.

 

Vanke reported a preliminary net loss for the period of 10 billion yuan to 12 billion yuan, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange Monday evening. That was greater than the figure for the same period last year, which came in at 9.85 billion yuan.

 

China’s property sector is mired in a protracted slump. Over the past four years, a number of major developers have defaulted on their debt as government crackdowns and faltering home-buyer sentiment have weighed on their businesses.

Yields for long-term debt from Japan and Germany to the UK and France rose on Monday as growing concern over widening fiscal deficits dented demand.

 

The yield on Japan’s 30-year notes jumped the most in two months and those on similar-maturity German bunds flirted with their loftiest levels in 14 years. For these countries, fiscal concerns are usurping central-bank interest-rate policies as the main factor to watch. While the selloff is less pronounced in the US, 30-year yields there still touched their highest in a month.

The Bank of Spain appointed US Federal Reserve official David Lopez Salido as chief economist. Lopez Salido, who will take up the post in Madrid on Oct. 1, worked for almost two decades at the Fed’s monetary-affairs division in Washington, where he’s currently a senior associate director.

 

His new job will put him in charge of the Bank of Spain’s forecasting operation and will see him accompany Governor Jose Luis Escriva to meetings of the European Central Bank’s interest rate-setting Governing Council in Frankfurt.

 

The position has traditionally been a career springboard at the Spanish central bank: Escriva’s predecessor — Bank for International Settlement’s chief Pablo Hernandez de Cos — and Oscar Arce, currently director general of economics at the ECB, both served in that role.

US equities are poised to extend a retreat from an all-time high after the Trump administration intensified its trade war. The risk-off tone stopped short of cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin surging past $120,000.

 

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.3%, setting the US benchmark up for back-to-back losses. Europe’s Stoxx 600 also dropped, with trade-sensitive automakers among the biggest decliners. Bitcoin rallied alongside broader gains in digital assets as the US House prepared to consider legislation that would advance President Donald Trump’s crypto-friendly agenda.

 

US Treasuries fell as bond markets remained fragile at the start of a week packed with economic data. The dollar was little changed.

Apple Inc. is facing pressure to shake up its corporate playbook to invigorate its struggling artificial intelligence efforts.

 

Alarmed by a share slump that’s erased more than $630 billion in market value this year and frustrated with delays in rolling out AI features, investors are calling for Apple to break with long-standing traditions to make a big acquisition and more aggressively pursue talent.

 

“Historically, Apple does not do big mergers and acquisitions,” said Citigroup Inc. analyst Atif Malik, noting that the last major deal was its takeover of Beats in 2014. But, he argues, “investors would turn more positive if Apple could acquire or invest a meaningful stake in an established AI provider.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he’ll replace his prime minister as part of a cabinet overhaul as his government seeks to boost weapons production and maintain US support in its war against Russia.

 

Yulia Svyrydenko, a deputy premier who took the lead in coordinating a landmark minerals deal with President Donald Trump’s administration, was nominated to replace Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Ukraine’s longest-serving head of government, Shmyhal took office in 2020 and has led the government for the duration of Russia’s war.

 

Zelenskiy met with Svyrydenko, 39, on Monday to discuss “concrete measures to boost Ukraine’s economic potential, expand support programs for Ukrainians, and scale up our domestic weapons production,” Zelenskiy said in a social media post.

Italy has been hit by a preliminary European Union warning over its restrictions on UniCredit SpA’s planned takeover of Banco BPM SpA.

 

In a legal move that sets up a clash between Brussels and Rome, EU officials accused Giorgia Meloni’s government of potentially violating the bloc’s law in imposing national conditions on the deal.

 

The Brussels-based European Commission said that Italy’s application of its so-called golden power “may contravene” EU merger rules and “lacks sufficient reasoning.” The EU’s executive arm also said the government’s stance seems “incompatible with other provisions of EU law, including on the free movement of capital and on prudential oversight by the European Central Bank.”

China faces significant challenges advancing its semiconductor lithography, a key hurdle for its drive toward technological self-sufficiency and superiority in the trade war with the US.

 

Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co., the country’s leading provider of such technology, has been able to carve out only a 4% share of the market for older-generation lithography, according to the Center for Security and Emerging Technology. The DC-based independent think tank is often consulted by various US government agencies.

 

The CSET researchers found Chinese firms “have made notable gains in equipment used in fabrication,” including achieving parity with Japan in one particular segment of that business. But chipmaking gear maker SMEE is still far behind advanced lithography leader ASML Holding NV and its smaller Japanese peer Nikon Corp.

Autodesk Inc. is no longer pursuing an acquisition of PTC Inc., people familiar with the matter said, which would have ranked as one of the year’s largest deals.

 

The software provider has decided to shelve its work on a potential cash-and-stock deal for PTC, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Shares in Autodesk have fallen more than 10% since July 8, the day before Bloomberg News reported it was considering an acquisition of PTC.

 

Autodesk shares closed at $280.39 in New York on Friday, giving it a market value of about $60 billion. PTC has a market capitalisation of $23.2 billion.

South Africa’s president suspended the nation’s police minister and announced a commission of inquiry to probe accusations that he sabotaged an investigation into political assassinations.

 

Cyril Ramaphosa placed Senzo Mchunu on special leave and appointed Firoz Cachalia, a university professor and former provincial minister of community safety in Gauteng, as acting minister.

 

The president has been under intense pressure to act after the explosive allegations on July 6 highlighted concerns that the nation, which suffers from chronic crime, has yet to root out corruption among senior officials that has stunted its investment and economic growth.

China’s economy likely expanded just above the government’s full-year growth target in the second quarter, easing pressure on Beijing to roll out additional stimulus in the near term.

 

Official figures due Tuesday are expected to show gross domestic product rose 5.1% year-on-year in the quarter ended June, according to a Bloomberg survey. While slower than the first quarter, it would still put first-half growth at 5.3%, comfortably above Beijing’s annual target of around 5%, the survey shows.

 

The economy got a boost from strong exports, helped by a trade truce with the US in mid-May that lowered tariffs on Chinese goods to around 55% from a peak of 145%, as well as ongoing fiscal support aimed at shoring up domestic demand.

South Africa’s president suspended the nation’s police minister and announced a commission of inquiry to probe accusations that he sabotaged an investigation into political assassinations.

 

Cyril Ramaphosa placed Senzo Mchunu on special leave and appointed Firoz Cachalia, a university professor and former provincial minister of community safety in Gauteng, as acting minister.

 

The president has been under intense pressure to act after the explosive allegations on July 6 highlighted concerns that the nation, which suffers from chronic crime, has yet to root out corruption among senior officials that has stunted its investment and economic growth.

Tesla Inc. will stand trial over claims that the company is partly to blame for a fatal 2019 crash in Florida that occurred when the Autopilot system in a Model S allegedly failed to detect a parked SUV.

 

Family members of the woman killed in the crash, Tesla engineers and auto-safety experts are expected to provide testimony in a federal courtroom in Miami during the jury trial, which starts Monday and is set to last three weeks.

 

Only a handful of Tesla crash cases have gone to trial. The electric vehicle maker has struck confidential accords to resolve several cases that blamed defective technology for deadly accidents.

CityFibre Holdings Ltd. reached an agreement with existing lenders and shareholders to inject another £2.3 billion ($3.1 billion) to expand the company’s footprint as the UK’s crowded market for alternative network providers heads for a reckoning.

 

The funds include about £500 million in equity from existing shareholders including, Goldman Sachs, Antin Infrastructure Partners, Mubadala Investment Co. and Interogo Holding, the company said Monday, confirming a previous Bloomberg report.

 

CityFibre also secured £960 million in debt and a new “accordion” facility, which will let the company tap an additional £800 million under certain conditions.

 

CityFibre is already the largest, and Chief Executive Officer Greg Mesch said he’s looking for deals to consolidate the crowded industry of UK “alt-nets,” a group of fiber optic providers set on challenging incumbent BT Group Plc’s Openreach business.

Banks are looking to sell $2.25 billion of term loans and $2 billion equivalent of bonds for Boots, to help finance its acquisition by US private equity firm Sycamore Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The long-anticipated sale of the leveraged loans for the UK pharmacy chain launched on Monday and comprises a $1 billion term loan B denominated in euros, $750 million in dollars and $500 million in sterling.

 

Simultaneously, banks have started marketing senior secured bonds in euros, sterling and dollars as well. They will look to raise $750 million-equivalent each from the euro and sterling tranches and $500 million from the dollar sale.

 

The deals are part of a larger financing package that will also include private credit facilities to support the takeover of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., one of the largest leveraged buyouts since the global financial crisis.

Kenvue Inc. said Chief Executive Officer Thibaut Mongon will leave the company and that the maker of Neutrogena and Listerine brands is undertaking a strategic review.

 

Current board director Kirk Perry will take over as interim CEO, effective immediately. Shares in Kenvue rose 2% in premarket trading in New York.

Bitcoin breached $120,000 for the first time, with investor optimism increasing almost daily after it emerged from a narrow trading range that had left sceptics wondering whether the original cryptocurrency would regain the record-breaking momentum seen at the start of the year.

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President Donald Trump on Sunday (July 13) said Washington would send Patriot air defence systems to Kyiv and hinted at new sanctions on Russia, once again voicing displeasure with Russian leader Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

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“It is important to note that investors are already pricing in rate cut expectations,” noted Linh Tran, market analyst at XS.com. “If the data points to stronger-than-expected inflationary pressures or a tight labor market, the Fed may be forced to delay rate cuts — potentially triggering a valuation shock for equity markets.”

Late on Sunday, Trump repeated his criticism of Powell and said if the Fed chair stepped down, that would be a “good thing.” Deutsche Bank AG strategist George Saravelos said the potential dismissal of Powell is a major and underpriced risk that could trigger a selloff in the US dollar and Treasuries.

Tesla Inc. shareholders will vote on whether to invest in Elon Musk’s xAI, the billionaire said, after the Wall Street Journal reported that SpaceX agreed to pump $2 billion into the artificial intelligence startup.

Musk made the statement in response to an account on X that said the carmaker must be able to invest in xAI to be fair to Tesla retail investors.

“It’s not up to me. If it was up to me, Tesla would have invested in xAI long ago,” Musk replied. He didn’t say when the carmaker will have a shareholder vote or offer other details, beyond saying in a separate post that he didn’t support a merger of the companies.

Donald Trump’s proposed 30% tariff on European Union goods is “effectively prohibitive” to transatlantic trade and could warrant retaliation, the bloc’s chief negotiator said.

Briefing reporters in Brussels on Monday before a gathering of trade ministers, Maros Sefcovic warned that counter measures may be on the table as an option to strike back against the US president’s levies.

“The current uncertainty caused by unjustified tariffs cannot persist indefinitely,” he said. “Therefore we must prepare for all outcomes, including — if necessary — well- considered, proportionate counter measures to restore the balance in our transatlantic relationship.”

US President Donald Trump attacked the car trade imbalance between the US and Japan again on Sunday, days ahead of a scheduled visit by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to the Asian country that could apply further pressure to the minority government.

“They sell us millions and millions of cars a year. We sell them no cars because they won’t accept our cars. And they won’t accept much of our agriculture either,” Trump told reporters in Washington.

Trump announced last week that he will raise across-the-board tariffs on Japan to 25% on Aug. 1, after months of negotiations between Japan’s top negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and Trump’s aides yielded little progress.

European natural gas extended gains, with traders watching demand from key buyers in Asia where extreme heat is boosting cooling needs.

Benchmark futures headed for a sixth session of advances, the longest winning streak in more than a year. Liquefied natural gas purchases increased in parts of North Asia amid hot weather, with a fuel shipment diverting away from Europe recently. That means the continent needs to pay up to keep supply coming and to stockpile enough fuel ahead of winter.

With underground storage sites around 63% full, Europe’s inventories are still on the low end for the time of year, while hot weather is boosting air conditioning needs in many parts of the region.NewsLive TVMarketPopular CategoriesCalculatorsTrending NowLet's Connect with CNBCTV 18Network 18 Group :©TV18 Broadcast Limited. All rights reserved.