By Heard Editors

What Happened in Markets Today:

Nvidia became the world's first $4 trillion company. The milestone comes barely two years after the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, led by Chief Executive Jensen Huang, notched a $1 trillion closing valuation for the first time. Nvidia is now worth as much as the 214 smallest companies in the S&P 500 combined, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Trump released new tariff letters to seven countries including the Philippines, Libya and Iraq. He also previewed steep tariffs on Brazil, before disclosing a 50% levy on Brazilian goods after the market closed. That followed a raft of new tariff threats from the administration a day earlier, in which the president said he would impose 50% duties on copper and a levy of as much as 200% on pharmaceutical imports.

Stocks continued their steady advance, looking past the tariff threats. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.9%. The Dow gained 218 points, or 0.5%. Bond yields extended declines after a Treasury auction of $39 billion in 10-year notes in the afternoon garnered strong demand. Copper prices retreated, with futures falling about 2.5%, after soaring to a record high on Tuesday.

Minutes from the Fed's June policy meeting tease a looming split over whether and when officials will resume rate cuts. A majority of Federal Reserve officials at their meeting last month expected they would be able to resume interest rate cuts this year, but only two of them voiced support for a rate cut as soon as the central bank's next gathering later this month.

Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk's X. Yaccarino's future at the company had been uncertain for months. Musk merged X with Grok chatbot maker xAI this spring, fusing two of his technology bets and making the social-media platform part of a broader AI-focused company. The high-growth potential of artificial intelligence became more important to investors than the tighter-margin social-media business overseen by Yaccarino.

This analysis comes from the Journal's Heard on the Street team. Subscribe to their free daily afternoon newsletter here.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 09, 2025 18:00 ET (22:00 GMT)

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