The S&P 500 closed lower Monday, as investors awaited key inflation prints due later in the wee and digested reports that President Donald Trump had extended the deadline for China tariffs by 90 days and
At 4:00 p.m. ET (20:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 199 points lower, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.2%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.3%
Trump extends China tariff deadline by 90 days Trump reportedly signed an executive order extending the deadline for China tariffs by 90 days through Nov. 9. The extension comes just a day ahead of the initial Aug. 12 deadline, but ensure that uncertainty over U.S.-China trade relations remain front and center.
In other geopolitical news, Trump is also set to meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 - the first face-to-face summit between a sitting U.S. president and his Russian counterpart since Joe Biden met Putin in June 2021 - in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine.
CPI leads data deluge
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite touched a fresh intraday high on Friday, while the broad-based S&P 500 index finished just shy of an all-time closing high.
This positive tone faces the test of key economic data this week, with the focus on the release of U.S. consumer price data for July on Tuesday.
A separate gauge of producer prices for final demand is due out on Thursday, while a metric of American retail sales and a survey of consumer sentiment are expected to be published on Friday. The weak July jobs report at the start of the month, which also included a sharp downward revision to the numbers for June and May, has increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.
Along with the labor market, inflation remains the other crucial pillar of the Federal Reserve’s two-pronged mandate, and it remains stubbornly elevated above the Fed’s stated 2% target. Additionally, the tariffs that the Trump administration has increased on imports from a number of trading partners are expected to lift domestic prices.
“Consensus is expecting another acceleration in core CPI, to 0.3% month-on-month (3.0% year-on-year), in this week’s July print,” said analysts at ING, in a note. “That is a number that can probably be seen as acceptable for the Federal Reserve to proceed with a September cut, given the backdrop of a significantly weaker jobs market.”
Nvidia/AMD to pay U.S. government for China sales? The earnings slate is largely empty Monday, although Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) stock rose after the memory chipmaker raised its fourth quarter fiscal 2025 guidance, citing improved pricing and strong execution.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) are also in focus following media reports suggesting both chipmakers are set to pay the U.S. government 15% of the returns they make from the sale of its artificial intelligence to China.
Shares of C3.ai (NYSE:AI) were sharply lower after the enterprise AI application software group issued a disappointing preliminary earnings announcement.
