Financial News

Shares of the retailer haven’t moved much since April. The cruise operator’s stock is beating the S&P 500.

President Donald Trump’s firing of a top official at the Bureau of Labor Statistics following Friday’s dismal jobs report poses new questions for investors about how federal economic data will be viewed going forward, Capital Alpha Partners said in a note Friday. “It would be unprecedented in recent history for investors in U.S. markets to doubt the integrity of the data they use to make investment decisions,” managing partner Ian Katz wrote Friday evening. Trump’s decision to fire BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer unfolded after the agency released July jobs numbers and issued large revisions for May and June, lowering payroll gains by a combined 258,000 in those two months—the biggest such revision since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic during spring 2020.

The initial response rate to government surveys of businesses has been low this year, diminishing the reliability of the first estimate of monthly job growth, one economist notes. Plus, investment newsletter commentary on gold, real estate, copper, and shrinking profit margins.

Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre joins Asking for a Trend with Josh Lipton goes over the main themes from the trading day: the flurry of bad news with tariffs and jobs data, the return of the initial public offering (IPO) market with Figma's (FIG) public debut, and crypto's risk-market dive. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend.

It was a double whammy of news for the markets. First, it was President Trump's tariffs, with virtually all of the US trading partners getting hit with some sort of levy. Then there was the July jobs report, which not only fell short of estimates but also included big downward revisions to the May and June data. Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre recaps the action at the close. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination Overtime.

Stocks fell sharply on Friday, as Wall Street fretted over the latest tariff and labor market updates. The Nasdaq Composite slid 2.2%. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled plans for tariffs on countries that didn’t negotiate deals that will start on Aug. 7.

Markets are assessing the reshaped US trade landscape after Trump on Thursday laid out steep new tariffs for dozens of countries.

The Dow was sliding in Friday trading after a weaker-than-expected July jobs report sent Wall Street scrambling and bets on a September rate cut flying. Anyone who paid attention to markets last year will remember the August 2024 selloff, which was sparked by that year’s July jobs report. While last year’s report ultimately made the case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a half-point in September, the economy held steady and stocks eventually rebounded to fresh highs in the ensuing months.

The streaming firm’s revenue from hardware sales could be hurt by tariffs, and one observer notes Friday’s drop comes with a tough macro.

Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre, who also hosts Yahoo Finance's Stocks in Translation podcast, does an exchange-traded fund (ETF) comparison between the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) and Invesco QQQ (QQQ) to see how they contrast. Catch more Stocks in Translation, with new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Catalysts.

Technical analysis shows some of the sector’s leading stocks are poised to bounce higher. On the comparison chart below, the ETF had closely tracked the broader over the past year, but began decisively outperforming it in May. Industrial Select Sector SPDR traded at $149.60 Friday. Aerospace and defense has been the standout contributor among industrials, led by top holding GE Aerospace, which has surged more than 60% in 2025 alone.

Here are some of the stories Wall Street is watching on Friday, Aug. 1. All three major indexes (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are falling after the July jobs report revealed slower-than-expected job growth. Tesla (TSLA) sales fell in July in several key European regions, including France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, though registrations in Spain and Norway rose.  T. Rowe Price (TROW) posted better-than-expected second quarter results. Stay up to date on the latest market action, minute-by-minute, with Yahoo Finance's Market Minute.

The Washington Post reported the CMS is considering a plan that could allow Medicare plans to pay for the drugs.

Companies are reporting beats time and again—and offering upbeat outlooks. Their reward: big gains from Wall Street.

The stock market was back in risk-off mode on Friday, in the wake of the president’s latest tariff declarations and signs the labor market is weaker than economists believed. The S&P 500’s consumer discretionary sector was down 3.4%, on track for its worst day since April 10, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The energy sector was down 1.7%.

Apple’s third-quarter results and financial forecasts were a much needed positive for Wall Street after months of concerns about the stock. Apple shares have dropped 19% this year as Wall Street has grappled with challenges ranging from tariffs to competition to a relative lack of progress on artificial intelligence. Apple delivered.

Sevens Report President Tom Essaye thinks chip makers such as Nvidia are the canaries in the coal mines for the artificial-intelligence industry.

Exxon Mobil stock slipped on Friday, despite the company’s better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and production numbers. It might have been something that CEO Darren Woods said. In response to an analyst question on the earnings call, Woods said Exxon is looking at buying other companies.

Palantir landed a software-licensing agreement with the military worth up to $10 billion over a decade.

Eastman Chemical was the worst performer in the on Friday after reporting worse-than-expected quarterly earnings and a grim outlook for the rest of the year. The company posted adjusted earnings of $1.60 a share for the second quarter, short of Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.73. “We are encountering a global macroeconomic environment that remains challenging,” said CEO Mark Costa.

U.S. job growth has slowed to below what’s generally considered healthy, suddenly upending the picture of a balanced job market and increasing support for interest-rate cuts. With the substantial downward revisions announced Friday for May and June, the three-month moving average for payrolls has plunged to just 35,000. While summer months can be tough for the job market, that’s still less than the monthly average of 123,000 jobs added from May to July 2024— a slowdown that helped prompt Fed officials to lower rates by half a percentage point last September.

Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre joins Asking for a Trend with Josh Lipton to go over the main takeaways from the trading day: market resiliency to tariff headlines, the wall of worry investors face and how it's shaping sentiment, and crypto's current rally and overall strong performance this year. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Asking for a Trend here.

The Trade Desk will be added to the S&P 500 index prior to the opening of trading on Friday. It will replace Ansys which is being purchased by S&P 500 constituent Synopsys on Thursday, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. Shares of Trade Desk, which provides a platform for advertising buyers, were sharply higher in after-hours trading, gaining 14.6% to $86.41 after being little changed in regular trading Monday.

Wall Street expects BlackRock to post higher profits and assets under management when the firm releases earnings Tuesday, following a volatile second quarter for investors. Analysts are calling for BlackRock to report per-share earnings of $10.06, or $10.78 on an adjusted basis, on revenue of $5.45 billion. The world’s largest money manager, best known for its vast fund offerings and influential chief executive, Larry Fink, is expected to report a record $12.15 trillion of client assets.

Melius Research cited concerns about operational efficiency and the coffee chain’s efforts to revive its brand.

Wall Street eked out small gains on Monday as investors prep for a rather eventful week that includes earnings from the biggest U.S. banks and more clarity on the economic front. The Nasdaq rose 0.3%, but even with that meager gain it crossed its prior high to mark its seventh record close for the year, at 20,640.33. Small-caps did better than all three major indexes, with the Russell 2000 index up 0.5%.

While that wisdom may feel dated in today’s tech-driven environment, the financial sector’s recent strength is undeniably a bullish signal. Technically, the exchange-traded fund is showing resilience, holding firm above the $52 level, a zone that previously acted as resistance in November, February, and May. For bulls, the ideal setup now would be a period of constructive consolidation after a strong three-month run, laying the groundwork for a renewed leg higher. One stock well-positioned to ride the financial sector’s momentum is SoFi Technologies Run by former Goldman Sachs partner Anthony Noto, the fintech firm has flourished.

Support for Ukraine is one of the few things that Democrats and Republicans in Congress can seem to agree on these days. Trump has also proposed even harsher tariffs on Russia and its trading partners if there is no peace agreement within 50 days. “There’s trouble afoot in Ukraine that may soon send shock waves through global markets as Russia’s attacks escalate and Western sanctions tighten,” said Christopher Smart, founder and managing partner of the Arbroath Group and a former chief global strategist at Barings, in a Substack post Monday.

The crypto sector has thrived since President Donald Trump took office in January—Bitcoin set a record high Monday—buoyed by legislative developments, dropped lawsuits, and the appointment of crypto-friendly regulators. As perhaps the biggest name in digital assets outside of itself, Coinbase has had a particularly strong start to 2025. “No other company (and industry) may be benefitting more under Trump,” wrote analysts at Ned Davis Research in a research note.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq is higher by 0.4%, not a major move, but the index is exhibiting a definite upward trajectory and was tracking a new high. Meanwhile, bonds are having a more noteworthy day as yields press higher--in other words, bond prices are falling, given the two move in opposite directions. Its now at $119,780, which is still a notable ascent from the near $70,000 level where it sat before President Trump got elected in November.