MARKET WRAPS

Watch For:

France ILO unemployment; trading updates from Munich RE, NN Group

Opening Call:

European stock futures traded slightly higher early Friday. Asian stock benchmarks were mixed; the dollar weakened; Treasury yields were down; while oil futures inched lower and gold strengthened.

Equities:

European stock futures were up while U.S. stocks slipped overnight, after President Trump's sweeping levies kicked in on imports from dozens of countries. The tariffs sent stock markets reeling when they were first unveiled in April, but a series of deals and exemptions has made investors more comfortable with their consequences.

Negotiators are still hoping to secure carve-outs for key exports, as well as lower overall tariff rates. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter said Thursday that her country would continue intensive talks with the U.S., after she left Washington without averting a 39% tariff rate.

"The tariffs are here to stay," said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. "The question is the degree to which they will matter for the economy and for markets."

Forex:

The dollar inched lower, after Trump said that he would nominate Stephen Miran, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to fill a vacancy on the Fed's Board of Governors until the term expires in January.

"Miran has been very critical of U.S. Fed policy and would likely advocate for cuts," NAB's Tapas Strickland said. "This makes at least two rate cuts by the end of the year much more probable," he added.

The nomination shifts the "needle on the Fed board in the dovish direction," Westpac Strategy Group's Richard Franulovich said. "Fed policy is obviously moving in an overall more challenging direction for the USD."

Bonds:

A Treasurys selloff intensified, sending yields higher. Weak demand for 30-year debt fueled concerns sparked by lukewarm reception for 10-year notes. Markets fear that investors could be growing reluctant to finance the U.S. budget.

Meanwhile, jobless claims increased, supporting suspicions that the labor market could be cooling quickly. Increased productivity in the second quarter is seen as a deflationary factor, supporting the odds of an interest rate cut in September.

Energy:

Oil edged lower amid easing supply-disruption worries. Reports of positive talks between the U.S. and Russia on the Ukraine war and a possible meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin in the coming days "increase the chances of a ceasefire, and perhaps even an eventual peace deal, though talks could remain tricky and the outcomes uncertain," Eric Lee of Citi Research said.

Crude oil markets seem to be pricing out "supply risk premia" related to the U.S. threat of secondary sanctions on purchases of Russian crude oil, TD Securities' Daniel Ghali said. "The bar for substantially lower prices is critically low."

Metals:

Gold's rise still has more room to run, ING's Ewa Manthey said. "Potential Fed rate cuts, along with continued central bank buying and ETF inflows, could send gold to fresh highs."

Traders are pricing in a 93% probability that the Fed will lower rates at next month's meeting, Manthey said. Central-bank buying also remains solid, he said, noting that World Gold Council data showed that central banks added 166 tons to global official gold reserves in the second quarter. Separately, gold-backed ETFs saw strong investment during the three-month period, he said.

-

Copper inched higher, supported by renewed supply-side issues, ANZ Research analysts said. Unplanned disruptions, as a share of overall copper production, increased to 5.7% last year from just under 5% in 2014, they said. Constrained supply growth could drive longer-term tightness in the copper market, the analysts said.

-

Iron ore prices edged up, supported by solid demand. Brazil reported that its exports of the steel-making raw material rose 5% in July from a year earlier, ANZ Research said. Separately, Chinese trade data showed that Chinese steel mills' appetite remains strong, they said. "Healthy mill margins and low steel inventories motivated mills to restock."

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

This Fed President Says Tariff Inflation Could Last Longer. Why He Still Expects Just 1 Rate Cut This Year.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Thursday that he still expects the central bank to cut rates just once this year, despite growing signs that the labor market is losing steam and the fact that traders have priced in more aggressive easing.

"My outlook today is still one cut for the year," Bostic said on a call with more than 200 Florida-based executives. While last week's jobs report was a "surprise" particularly because of its steep revisions, he said, it hasn't yet shifted his view of the economy.

Trump Will Nominate Economic Adviser Stephen Miran to Fed Vacancy

President Trump said he would nominate Stephen Miran, the head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, to fill a vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors on a short-term basis.

Trump tapped Miran in December to lead the CEA, and he was confirmed by the Senate to his current post in March.

The BLS Isn't Alone in Facing Data Challenges; U.K. Has Them Too

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is not the only data collector to have had problems with jobs numbers: for years, the U.K.'s main economic statistics agency has faced growing scrutiny about how it collects employment data.

In the U.K., however, criticism has been confined to questions of accuracy, rather than political motive.

EU Says Chip Exports to U.S. Will Have 15% Tariff Ceiling Despite New Levies

Companies that export chips to the U.S. from the European Union will face a 15% tariff ceiling even after President Trump announced fresh levies on semiconductors coming into the country, the EU said.

Trump said Wednesday that he would impose roughly 100% tariffs on all chips coming into the U.S., while exempting tech companies that promised to manufacture domestically. The announcement came after Trump reached an agreement with the EU under which the U.S. set a 15% tariff for the vast majority of EU exports.

Intel's CEO, Under Attack From Trump, Is Already at Odds With His Board

Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan was already at odds with some board members before President Trump jumped into the fray.

Tan and some Intel directors have disagreed in his first months in the role about questions as central as whether the company should stay in the manufacturing business or exit it entirely, according to people familiar with the matter. Recent efforts by Tan to raise new capital and acquire an artificial-intelligence company have been stalled by people on the board, they said.

Apple Got the Jump on Tariffs, Deciding Years Ago to Make iPhones in India

SRIPERUMBUDUR, India-Dozens of women wearing ID badges streamed from their rooms in a year-old dormitory for Foxconn workers and headed to a company cafeteria on a recent day for a menu of lentil-and-vegetable stew, beetroot and rice.

White buses waited outside to ferry them to a factory where the Apple contractor builds iPhones.

Meet TBD Lab, Meta's Superintelligence SWAT Team

About one month in, Meta Platforms' much-hyped new team devoted to building machine superintelligence has a name, an initial project-and a fast-growing list of employees poached from other AI labs.

Earlier this summer, the company placed all of its AI efforts under a new umbrella group, Meta Superintelligence Labs. Charged with a mission to "bring personal superintelligence to everyone," in the words of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, MSL is overseen by Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, who joined the company as part of a $14 billion deal for a stake in his former startup, Scale AI.

Write to singaporeeditors@dowjones.com

Expected Major Events for Friday

04:30/NED: Jun Manufacturing output

05:00/FIN: Jun Industrial Production

05:30/FRA: 2Q ILO Unemployment and Labour Market-related indicators

06:00/SWE: Jun New orders & deliveries in industry

06:00/SWE: Jun Industrial Production Index

06:30/HUN: Jul CPI

07:00/CZE: Jul Unemployment data

07:00/SWI: Jul Consumer Sentiment Index

07:00/SVK: Jun Foreign trade

07:00/SVK: Jun Industrial production

07:00/AUT: Jun Production Index

07:30/NED: Jun Consumer Spending

08:00/ICE: Jul External trade, preliminary figures

08:00/BUL: Jun Industrial Production

09:00/MLT: Jun Industrial Production Index

09:00/GRE: Jul CPI

09:00/CRO: Jun Foreign Trade

09:00/GRE: Jun Industrial Production Index

09:00/LUX: Jun Industrial Production

10:00/IRL: Jul Irish Live Register latest monthly figures

10:00/IRL: Jun Industrial Production and Turnover

10:00/POR: Jun International trade statistics

All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.

Write to us at newsletters@dowjones.com

We offer an enhanced version of this briefing that is optimized for viewing on mobile devices and sent directly to your email inbox. If you would like to sign up, please go to https://newsplus.wsj.com/subscriptions.

This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 08, 2025 00:13 ET (04:13 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.