TLDR
- The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq struggled Friday after a sharp Thursday sell-off wiped nearly $800 billion from “Magnificent Seven” stocks
- Alphabet and Tesla’s rising AI spending triggered the tech rout
- President Trump’s new Section 301 tariffs, ranging from 10% to 12.5%, took effect overnight
- Oil prices fell Friday but Brent crude was still on track for a weekly gain after touching $100 per barrel
- Verizon and American Express beat on earnings but missed revenue estimates; Intel surged after beating expectations
US stocks attempted a fragile recovery Friday morning after one of the worst single-day tech selloffs of the year. Investors were juggling new tariffs, AI cost concerns, and rising oil prices all at once.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.3%, while the S&P 500 hovered near flat. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4% as tech stocks continued to weigh on the market.
The three major indexes were headed for weekly losses. The “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap tech stocks collectively lost nearly $800 billion in market value on Thursday alone.
The selloff was triggered by earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla, both of which revealed surging spending on artificial intelligence. Investors reacted poorly to the ballooning costs.
Intel was a bright spot. Shares rose in early trading after the chipmaker beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations Thursday evening.
New Tariffs Now in Effect
Overnight, President Trump’s new set of global tariffs took effect. The Section 301 tariffs apply to nearly all US imports and levy rates between 10% and 12.5% on the country’s top trading partners.
The White House said it designed the new tariff structure to hold up better under legal challenge than previous versions.
Some energy products were exempted from the tariffs. The administration made that call as oil prices were already rising and threatening to slow progress on inflation.
Brent crude futures fell 2.8% Friday to trade below $98 per barrel. Even so, the international benchmark was on pace for a weekly gain after briefly touching $100 a barrel earlier in the week.
Earnings Mixed Across the Board
Verizon Communications and American Express both reported earnings beats but fell short on revenue. Their stocks declined despite the profit wins.
NextEra Energy beat on earnings per share but also missed on revenue. Unlike Verizon and American Express, its stock moved higher.
Intel’s strong report stood out as a rare piece of good news for the tech sector during a rough week.
Broader Market Picture
The equal-weight S&P 500 ETF, which treats every stock the same, was up 0.5% Friday. That suggests most of the market was doing fine — the drag was coming from a handful of large tech names.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped 4.3%, making it hard for the broader index to recover. Consumer discretionary and tech were the only major sectors in the red.
Economic data on tap included S&P Global’s July purchasing managers index readings for services and manufacturing, along with new home sales figures.
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