S&P 500 Gets Late-Day Boost As Bonds, Dollar Fall: Markets Wrap

A rebound in big tech drove stocks higher after a slide driven by weak manufacturing, trade and geopolitical risks. Bonds fell as the dollar hit its lowest since 2023.

Coming off the S&P 500's best May in 35 years, the benchmark edged up at the start of what's historically one of its quietest months for gains. Nvidia Corp. led an over 1.5% rally in a measure of chipmakers. US steel and aluminum shares surged on Donald Trump's pledge to double levies on the metals. Longer-dated Treasuries underperformed, with the spread between five- and 30-year yields near a level it last closed above in 2021. Oil climbed

Wall Street focused on trade risks.

Wall Street kept a close eye on the latest twists in the trade war, with the US extending the exclusion of Section 301 tariffs on some Chinese goods until Aug. 31, according to a notice issued by the US Customs and Border Protection. Trump and Xi Jinping will “likely” speak this week, according to the White House. 

“We continue to expect market volatility as investors digest fresh tariff headlines and incoming US economic data. Fiscal worries remain, and geopolitical tensions are heating up,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Meantime, Russia and Ukraine wrapped up a second round of talks in Istanbul that failed to bring the two sides closer to ending the war, but laid the groundwork for a new exchange of prisoners.

Among policymakers speaking was Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who didn't comment on the rate outlook.

Corporate Highlights:

• Jamie Dimon said his retirement from the top post at JPMorgan Chase & Co. is “several years away,” but the decision is up the bank's directors.

• Apple Inc. shares have struggled this year, but the iPhone maker offers a “significant” opportunity over the long-term, according to Bank of America Corp.

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will pay BioNTech SE as much as $11.1 billion to license a next-generation cancer drug, as competition intensifies in an area of oncology that seeks to harness the immune system to attack tumors.

• General Electric Co. is exercising some cost increases to pass on additional charges caused by tariffs, as the world's largest aircraft engine maker advocates for a return to a duty-free regime that long underpinned the industry.

• Moderna Inc. gained US approval for a new Covid vaccine for a narrower group of people, in the latest sign that regulators are restricting access to immunizations under the leadership of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 10:52 a.m. New York time

• The Nasdaq 100 was little changed

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%

• The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.2%

• The MSCI World Index was little changed

• Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 0.3%

• The Russell 2000 Index fell 0.3%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.6%

• The euro rose 0.8% to $1.1436

• The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.3553

• The Japanese yen rose 1% to 142.63 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $104,090.56

• Ether was little changed at $2,525.43

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 4.43%

• Germany's 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.51%

• Britain's 10-year yield was little changed at 4.65%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.5% to $62.91 a barrel

• Spot gold rose 2.6% to $3,376.19 an ounce