(Bloomberg) — US stocks resumed an advance after President Donald Trump touted a potential trade deal with the European Union, without giving details or a timeline on when an agreement would be reached. Treasuries fell.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in choppy trading ahead of a long holiday weekend as traders held off from making big bets. Energy was the best performing sector as oil flirted with $65 a barrel. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he was prepared to take action to get Iran’s energy exports down to zero.
Health insurers slumped after UnitedHealth Group Inc. slashed its earnings outlook for the year, the company’s plunge weighed on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average which tumbled 0.9%. Shares of Alphabet Inc. dipped after a federal judge found Google was illegally monopolizing some online advertising technology markets. The Nasdaq 100 wavered between small gains and losses.
Subscribe to the Stock Movers Podcast on Apple, Spotify and other Podcast Platforms.
In the bond market, yields on Treasuries climbed as US government bonds pared a weekly advance. Rising oil prices added pressure as did Trump’s sallies aimed at the head of the Federal Reserve.
Trump said the termination of Fed Chair Jerome Powell from his position can’t come quickly enough, arguing that the central bank should have lowered interest rates already this year, and in any case should do so now. His comments came after Powell indicated on Wednesday he was taking a wait-and-see approach on tariffs, pushing back on hopes the central bank would act quickly to soothe investor fears.
To Krishna Guha at Evercore ISI the independence of the Fed will be a sticking point in the days ahead as tariffs bleed through to inflation expectations.
“Continued confidence in the Fed amid a loss of confidence in the administration has shaped the market response to date: real rates / real term premia higher, dollar lower, less US exceptionalism in equity markets – but well-behaved inflation expectations and no stagflation panic,” the former executive at the New York Fed wrote in a note to clients.
Applications for US unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in two months, signaling a stable labor market. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed Index tumbled, trailing all economists estimates, a warning shot from the manufacturing sector. A gauge of the dollar was little changed.
Following the turmoil triggered by the announcement of broad US levies earlier this month, investors are focusing more on developments in country-specific trade negotiations. Key questions surround China, after Beijing indicated Wednesday it has several conditions for agreeing to talks with the Trump administration.
The ECB lowered interest rates for the seventh time since last June as global trade tensions threaten to derail the region’s economic recovery. The deposit rate was decreased by a quarter-point to 2.25%, as predicted by almost all analysts polled by Bloomberg. European stocks weakened.
Eli Lilly & Co. soared on positive data from a weight-loss pill study. TSMC’s US-listed shares rose after the main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc. forecast sales for the second quarter that beat analyst estimates.
On the trade front, the US and Japan kicked off negotiations with an aim to reach a deal as soon as possible, top Japan negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said. Preparations are underway for a second round of discussions later this month, he said.
Countries are racing to negotiate deals with the US to avert high import taxes Trump imposed — and then quickly paused — on about 60 trading partners. That move put a 24% across-the-board tariff on Japanese imports on hold, though a 10% baseline charge still applies — as well as 25% levies on cars, steel and aluminum.
“The trajectory of US-Japan trade talks will continue to be closely monitored, not just for their bilateral implications, but also as a potential framework for how the US may approach trade relationships with other allies,” said Rajeev De Mello, a global macro portfolio manager at Gama Asset Management.
In commodities, gold hit a record earlier Thursday on demand for havens, before turning lower as risk sentiment improved.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
-
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 1:32 p.m. New York time
-
The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
-
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%
-
The MSCI World Index rose 0.4%
Currencies
-
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
-
The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1348
-
The British pound was little changed at $1.3254
-
The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 142.41 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
-
Bitcoin rose 0.9% to $85,058.89
-
Ether rose 2.1% to $1,607.23
Bonds
-
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 4.33%
-
Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.47%
-
Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.57%
Commodities
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alyce Andres, Aya Wagatsuma, Julien Ponthus, Anand Krishnamoorthy, Allegra Catelli and John Viljoen.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
