Market Update | July 28th - August 1st

Indexes

After lots of disappointing news, markets finished lower across the board. The S&P500 dropped 2.4%, posting its worst week since April, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.9% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2%.

Bonds

US Treasury yields (the annual payment received on a bond, expressed as a percentage) rose throughout the week before falling later on, and eventually ending about where they started. A weak jobs report on Friday pushed yields down sharply. At the end of the week, the yield for a 10-year treasury note settled at 4.21%, down 0.2% from last week.

Commodities

Oil prices rose 3.3% to $67.30/barrel, while gold rose about 0.5% on the week. The rise of gold prices can largely be attributed to stock market volatility on Friday. When stocks are performing poorly, investors increase demand for gold as an investment. This drives the price up.

Events

Trump Rolls Out New Sweeping Tariffs

On July 31st, President Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on imports from 66 countries, including Canada, the EU, India, Taiwan and more. The average tariff rate jumped to 15.2%, with some reaching up to 41%. Markets sold off sharply the following morning on concerns about inflation and trade disruptions.

Labor Market Disappointment

The July jobs report, released Friday, showed just 73,000 nonfarm payrolls added—well below expectations. Revisions to May and June slashed prior figures by over 250,000 jobs. The unemployment rate held at 4.2%, and wage growth was 3.7%, still above inflation.

Trump Fires Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief

Following the disappointing jobs data, President Trump claimed the report was rigged against him and ordered the firing of Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. He also criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell. This further escalated investor uncertainty.

Mixed Earnings Reports

Amazon (AMZN) stunned markets when its earnings disappointed on Thursday. While there was growth, it was less than expected, causing Amazon shares to drop over 8% on Friday. Apple (AAPL) also posted its earnings on Thursday, however theirs were better than expected. Their stock rose slightly.

Investors also digested news that Microsoft and Meta delivered strong earnings earlier in the week. Microsoft briefly surpassed a $4 trillion market cap while rising almost 8% thanks to robust results, while Meta soared 11% on upbeat AI-driven ad growth forecasts.

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Overall, it was a relatively uneventful week until Thursday, when a wave of bad news hit markets, which reacted accordingly.

Next week, you can look forward to fresh economic data, with reports expected on the U.S. trade deficit, labor productivity, consumer credit, and sentiment within the services sector. Additionally, a number of major companies are set to report earnings this week, including Palantir, AMD, McDonald’s, Pfizer, Disney, and Uber.