By Mike Dolan
LONDON (Reuters) – What matters in U.S. and global markets today
By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets
If in doubt, latch on to artificial intelligence.
Making AI-chip monster Nvidia the first company to be valued at $4 trillion briefly on Wednesday, investors parsing another wave of tariff hikes and confusion seem keener to look through the fog and bank on long-term themes regardless.
Today’s Market Minute
* U.S. President Donald Trump launched his global tariff assault into overdrive on Wednesday, announcing a new 50% tariff on U.S. copper imports and a 50% duty on goods from Brazil, both to start on August 1.
* Nvidia briefly reached a market capitalization of $4 trillion on Wednesday, making it the first company in the world to reach the milestone and solidifying its position as one of Wall Street’s most-favored stocks.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday in his first visit to Asia since taking office, and will try to reassure them the region is a priority for Washington, even as Trump targets it in his global tariff offensive.
* The planned 50% tariff on copper imports may turn out to be the biggest own goal of Trump’s ongoing trade war with the rest of the world, claims ROI columnist Clyde Russell.
* Trump’s signature budget bill slashed funding for refilling U.S. emergency oil reserves, violating his previous vow to fill them “right to the top”. This about-face raises the question of whether the U.S. still needs the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at all, writes ROI columnist Ron Bousso.
$4 trillion Nvidia obscures new tariffs
The second-quarter corporate earnings season kicks off in earnest next week, with consensus forecasts for annual S&P 500 profit growth just under 6% – half what was expected at the start of the year and less than half of the first quarter pace.
And yet, the S&P 500 is back stalking record highs – up about 6% for the year so far – with the Nasdaq hitting another new peak on Wednesday. All that’s still lagging other world markets of course, especially dollar-denominated gains for Germany’s record-high DAX of almost 40% for 2025 and almost 30% for euro stocks.
But mid-year calm remained the order of the day. The VIX “fear index” hit a five-month low on Wednesday, while the bond market equivalent is near its lowest for the year.
This week’s postponement of the July 9 U.S. tariff deadline to August 1, along with pressure to get more deals done by then, has seen many investors revert to the immediate post-election thinking on trade policy – that deals, negotiations and shifting sands, rather than hard deadlines, will dominate the trade agenda.
By Mike Dolan
LONDON (Reuters) – What matters in U.S. and global markets today
By Mike Dolan, Editor-At-Large, Finance and Markets
If in doubt, latch on to artificial intelligence.
Making AI-chip monster Nvidia the first company to be valued at $4 trillion briefly on Wednesday, investors parsing another wave of tariff hikes and confusion seem keener to look through the fog and bank on long-term themes regardless.
Today’s Market Minute
* U.S. President Donald Trump launched his global tariff assault into overdrive on Wednesday, announcing a new 50% tariff on U.S. copper imports and a 50% duty on goods from Brazil, both to start on August 1.
* Nvidia briefly reached a market capitalization of $4 trillion on Wednesday, making it the first company in the world to reach the milestone and solidifying its position as one of Wall Street’s most-favored stocks.
* U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday in his first visit to Asia since taking office, and will try to reassure them the region is a priority for Washington, even as Trump targets it in his global tariff offensive.
* The planned 50% tariff on copper imports may turn out to be the biggest own goal of Trump’s ongoing trade war with the rest of the world, claims ROI columnist Clyde Russell.
* Trump’s signature budget bill slashed funding for refilling U.S. emergency oil reserves, violating his previous vow to fill them “right to the top”. This about-face raises the question of whether the U.S. still needs the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at all, writes ROI columnist Ron Bousso.
$4 trillion Nvidia obscures new tariffs
The second-quarter corporate earnings season kicks off in earnest next week, with consensus forecasts for annual S&P 500 profit growth just under 6% – half what was expected at the start of the year and less than half of the first quarter pace.
And yet, the S&P 500 is back stalking record highs – up about 6% for the year so far – with the Nasdaq hitting another new peak on Wednesday. All that’s still lagging other world markets of course, especially dollar-denominated gains for Germany’s record-high DAX of almost 40% for 2025 and almost 30% for euro stocks.
But mid-year calm remained the order of the day. The VIX “fear index” hit a five-month low on Wednesday, while the bond market equivalent is near its lowest for the year.
This week’s postponement of the July 9 U.S. tariff deadline to August 1, along with pressure to get more deals done by then, has seen many investors revert to the immediate post-election thinking on trade policy – that deals, negotiations and shifting sands, rather than hard deadlines, will dominate the trade agenda.
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