Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Point to Lower Open After Record Highs as Trump Threatens to Impose Additional Tariffs; Bitcoin Continues Surging
Stock futures are lower Friday morning as investors digest the latest threats from President Donald Trump to impose hefty tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were each down 0.6% recently, while Nasdaq futures declined 0.5%. Stocks are coming off a winning session on Thursday, when the benchmark S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs, while the Dow finished less than 1% away from its first new high since December.
Trump said late Thursday in a post on Truth Social that he plans to impose 35% tariffs on imports from Canada as of August 1, while in an interview with NBC News he said that most countries will likely face import levies of 15% or 20%, up from the current 10%. Trump has sent letters this week to more than 20 countries informing them of the tariff rates that will be imposed starting in August if deals aren’t reached before then. The flurry of announcements has revived investor concerns about the potential impact of tariffs, which experts say are likely to spur inflation and hurt economic growth.
Shares of the world’s largest technology companies, which have paced the recent rally, were mostly lower ahead of the opening bell on Friday, though the moves were modest. Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO) and Tesla (TSLA) were all down less than 1%. Amazon (AMZN) shares rose slightly as the online retail giant’s four-day “Prime Day” event draws to a close on Friday.
Cyrpto-related stocks were moving higher this morning as the price of bitcoin surged to a record high for the third straight day. Major bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR) rose 3%, while crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) added 1%, and bitcoin miners MARA Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) were each up more than 3%. Bitcoin was at $117,900 recently, up from around $114,000 yesterday afternoon.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was up 0.2% at 97.81, adding to the modest gains it’s posted this week after hitting its lowest level since early 2022 last week.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.39%, up from 4.35% at yesterday’s close.
Gold futures were up 1% at $3,360 an ounce recently, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1.2% to $67.35 per barrel, rebounding from a steep decline yesterday.