ASX set to fall, Wall Street slides as tariffs take hold; Trump pushes for Intel CEO to resign
“There is nothing to see here!” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “These are not nearly recession readings.”
A separate report said that productivity for US workers improved by more during the spring than economists expected. That could help the US economy grow without adding more pressure on inflation. And that’s particularly important when Trump’s tariffs look set to increase prices for all kinds of things that US households and businesses buy.
On Wall Street, Apple helped cushion a broader drop for the market amid hopes that its massive size can help it navigate Trump’s economy. Its stock rose 2.9 per cent after its CEO, Tim Cook, joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday to say it’s increasing its investment in US manufacturing by an additional $US100 billion ($154 billion) over the next four years.
Trump also announced a 100 per cent tariff on imported computer chips, but he added “if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge.”
“Large, cash-rich companies that can afford to build in America will be the ones to benefit the most,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “It’s survival of the biggest.”
DoorDash climbed 4.1 per cent after the delivery app topped Wall Street’s profit expectations for the latest quarter. It attracted new customers and saw the total number of orders increase.
Duolingo, the language-learning app, soared 17.3 per cent after it crushed Wall Street’s expectations. The company said its subscription revenue grew 46 per cent over the same period last year.
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Heavy weights on the market include Eli Lilly, which fell 14.3 per cent even though the drugmaker reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Analysts said some investors were disappointed with results that Lilly provided for a late-stage study of its potential pill version of the popular weight-loss drug Zepbound.
Intel sank 3.6 per cent after Trump called for its CEO to resign, while accusing him of being “highly CONFLICTED,” though he gave no evidence.
Crocs tumbled 27.5 per cent even though the footwear company reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it expects revenue to fall between 9 per cent and 11 per cent in the current quarter from a year earlier, while tariffs are dragging on its profitability. The company cited “continued uncertainty from evolving global trade policy and related pressures around the consumer.”
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Stocks climbed 0.2 per cent in Shanghai and 0.7 per cent in Hong Kong after China reported that its exports picked up in July, helped by a flurry of shipments as businesses took advantage of a pause in Trump’s tariff war with Beijing.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 per cent. Toyota Motor’s stock fell after it cut its full-year earnings forecasts largely because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but Sony rose after the entertainment and electronics company indicated it’s taking less damage from the tariffs than it had expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.25 per cent from 4.22 per cent late Wednesday.
