Dollar holds near 3-week high before CPI; bitcoin eases back from record peak

TOKYO – The dollar hovered near a three-week high versus major peers on Tuesday as traders awaited the release of US inflation data later in the day that could provide clues on the path for monetary policy.

The US currency was also buoyed by elevated Treasury yields, with investors weighing a potential exit of Jerome Powell from the Federal Reserve as President Donald Trump continued his criticism of the central bank chairman.

Currencies showed little reaction to data showing China’s economy grew 5.2% last quarter, slightly topping analysts’ forecasts.

Bitcoin drifted further from Monday’s all-time peak of USD 123,153.22 following a seven-day, 14% surge as investors bet on long-sought legislative policy wins for the cryptocurrency industry this week. It changed hands at around USD 118,215 as of 0240 GMT.

The dollar was little changed at 147.68 yen, after earlier rising to the highest since June 23 at 147.89 yen.

The dollar index, which tracks the currency against the yen and five other major rivals, stood at 98.050, not far below the overnight peak of 98.136, the highest since June 25.

The euro edged up slightly to USD 1.1671 after slipping to USD 1.1650 on Monday for the first time since June 25.

Fed Chair Powell has said he expects inflation to increase this summer as a result of tariffs, which is seen keeping the US central bank on hold until later in the year.

Economists polled by Reuters expect headline inflation to increase to 2.7% on an annual basis, up from 2.4% the prior month. Core inflation is expected to rise to 3.0%, from 2.8%.

“Should inflation fail to materialise or remain steady, questions may arise regarding the Fed’s recent decision not to cut rates, potentially intensifying calls for monetary easing,” James Kniveton, senior corporate FX dealer at Convera, wrote in a client note.

“Calls from the White House for leadership changes at the Fed may increase.”

Trump on Monday renewed his attacks on Powell, saying interest rates should be at 1% or lower, rather than the 4.25% to 4.50% range the Fed has kept the key rate at so far this year.

Fed funds futures traders have been pricing in 50 basis points of interest rate cuts by year-end, with the first reduction expected in September.

“If Powell leaves, we expect the (US Treasury yield) curve to steepen sharply, with the short-end factoring in front-loaded rates cuts,” DBS analysts wrote in a note.

“Meanwhile, the loss of confidence in price stability should translate into sharply higher 10-year and 30-year yields.”

China’s economic growth topped market forecasts in the second quarter – even as it slowed slightly from the prior three months – in a sign of resilience against US tariffs.

At the same time, analysts warned of underlying weakness and rising risks that will ramp up pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus.

The Chinese yuan was flat at 7.1728 per dollar.

The Aussie was steady at USD 0.6546.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Sonali Paul and Lincoln Feast.)

Wall Street ends with modest gains as investors await earnings, economic data

Wall Street stocks closed marginally up on Monday as investors sidestepped any meaningful moves following US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, and held steady ahead of a busy week of economic data and the start of earnings season.

Trump ramped up trade tensions over the weekend, vowing to slap a 30% tariff on most imports from the European Union and Mexico starting August 1 – leaving the clock ticking for last-minute trade deals.

The EU extended its pause on retaliatory measures until early August, holding out hope for a negotiated truce. The White House said talks with the EU, Canada, and Mexico are still underway.

Despite the headlines, investor reaction was muted, having grown numb to Trump’s barrage of tariff threats and his frequent last-minute U-turns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 88.14 points, or 0.20%, to 44,459.65, the S&P 500 gained 8.81 points, or 0.14%, at 6,268.56, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 54.80 points, or 0.27%, to 20,640.33.

Trading volume was also subdued, with 15.43 billion shares changing hands, compared with the 17.62 billion average for the last 20 trading days.

Markets have been buoyant in recent weeks even as Trump has rattled his tariff saber.

The Nasdaq Composite ended at a record high, its seventh such achievement since June 27. The S&P 500, which finished a dozen points below last Thursday’s best-ever close, has had five records in the same timeframe.

“If anything is holding the market back, it’s the fact we’ve had a pretty good run since April,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy & research at Glenmede.

He noted that despite initial fears that Trump’s tariff policy would hurt the US economy, the levies unveiled so far and the passage of his signature economic legislation last week will broadly offset each other, meaning investors are starting to be more confident about the economy’s growth prospects.

Signs of how Trump’s policies are playing out will come this week, with a raft of new reports on the state of the US economy due up.

Second-quarter earnings season kicks off on Tuesday, when several Wall Street banking heavyweights are set to report.

Tuesday is also the scheduled release of the latest consumer price data, which is expected to reveal an inflation uptick in June as sellers started passing on the cost of sweeping tariffs.

Wednesday’s producer and import price reports will offer fresh insight into how supply chain pressures are shaping up.

One place where Trump’s tariff rhetoric still moved markets was crude prices, with US benchmark oil dropping 2.2% after he threatened levies on buyers of Russian exports, which may have knock-on effects on global energy supplies.

This pushed the energy index down 1.2%, the biggest decliner among the 11 S&P sectors.

A majority of the sectors closed in positive territory though, led by the 0.7% advance by communication services. It was helped by gains in Netflix, which reports earnings on Thursday, and Warner Bros. Discovery, whose latest Superman caper had a strong opening weekend at the box office.

Crypto stocks ticked up after Bitcoin topped USD 120,000 for the first time. Coinbase rose 1.8%, and MicroStrategy gained 3.8%.

Waters Corp. dropped 13.8% after the lab equipment maker agreed to merge with rival Becton, Dickinson and Company’s Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions unit in a USD 17.5 billion deal.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)

Bitcoin climbs to record USD 123,000 as investors eye US policy boost

NEW YORK – Bitcoin vaulted past USD 120,000 for the first time on Monday, the latest milestone for the world’s largest cryptocurrency as investors bet on long-sought policy wins for the industry this week, which has been dubbed “crypto week” by US Republicans.

Bitcoin rose more than 3% to register a record high of USD 123,153.22 before easing, and was last up 0.5% at USD 119,750.86. The cryptocurrency is now up more than 27% on the year.

The US House of Representatives is set to debate and likely pass a series of crypto-related bills this week. The bills could provide the digital asset industry with the nation’s regulatory framework it has long sought.

Those demands have resonated with US President Donald Trump, a Republican who has called himself the “crypto president” and urged policymakers to revamp rules in favour of the industry.

“It’s riding a number of tailwinds at the moment,” said IG market analyst Tony Sycamore, citing institutional demand, expectations of further gains and support from Trump as reasons for the bullishness.

“It’s been a very, very, strong move over the past six or seven days and it’s hard to see where it stops now. It looks like it can easily have a look at the USD 125,000 level,” he said.

Trump and his family have made a series of forays into cryptocurrencies in the past year, including a new crypto project, World Liberty Financial, and the launch in January of his own meme coin.

Last week, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who was already a major investor in the USD TRUMP coin, announced that he was buying another USD 100 million.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sun’s investment in the president’s meme coin.

The coin, which hit a high of around USD 75 in the days after its January launch, fell 3.4% on Monday to USD 9.45, CoinMarketCap data showed.

The surge in bitcoin has sparked a broader rally across other cryptocurrencies over the past few sessions even as Trump’s chaotic tariff policies have knocked sentiment in other markets.

Ether, the second-largest token, reached a high of USD 3,081.94, its highest level since February 2, but is still down more than 10% on the year advanced 2.7% after climbing as much as 6.4% on the day.

The sector’s total market value has swelled to about USD 3.8 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Simon Peters, analyst at eToro, noted that bitcoin’s price had not hit a record high in other currencies such as the euro, suggesting that dollar weakness was behind some of the rise to a new record on Monday.

CRYPTO WEEK

US Republicans have declared the week of July 14 “crypto week,” during which members of Congress are set to vote on the Genius Act, the Clarity Act, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.

The most significant bill is the Genius Act, which would create federal rules for stablecoins.

“Developments around these pieces of crypto legislation could provide a further tailwind to the current rally. We wait to see,” eToro’s Peters said.

Elsewhere, prices of crypto stocks and exchange-traded funds advanced.

Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase were up 1.8%, while bitcoin holder Strategy climbed 3.5%. Crypto miner Mara Holdings was up 0.1% in US trading.

Analysts at Oppenheimer said they are cautious on Coinbase ahead of its quarterly results scheduled for July 31, but believe a more attractive entry point could happen after the earnings, and increased their price target on the stock to USD 417 from USD 395 per share.

Hong Kong-listed spot bitcoin ETFs launched by China AMC, Harvest, and Bosera all hit record highs.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York, Rae Wee in Singapore, and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes in London; Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru, and Alun John in London; Editing by Kate Mayberry, Bernadette Baum, and Matthew Lewis)

US yields rise as tariffs, inflation in focus

US Treasury yields rose on Friday as investors focused on next week’s consumer price inflation report that may show that price growth accelerated in June, with the Federal Reserve expected to keep interest rates on hold as it waits to see the impact of tariffs on price pressures.

The European Union on Friday waited for a possible letter from US President Donald Trump outlining planned duties on his largest trade and investment partner after a broadening of his tariff war in recent days.

Yields rose overnight after Trump said the US would impose a 35% tariff on Canadian imports next month, said Tom di Galoma, managing director at Mischler Financial Group.

And now, “everybody’s got their eye on CPI next week. That could put the Fed into play if it comes in lower, or it could make them hold off if it comes in higher,” he said.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said he expects inflation to rise this summer, which makes the consumer price releases over the next few months key to Fed expectations.

“The CPI data from next week will be front and center,” said Jim Barnes, director of fixed income at Bryn Mawr Trust. “The market’s really not anticipating a move come July from the Fed and so from the market’s perspective they’ll be looking at the June, July, and August CPI data.”

“We have had a trend of somewhat benign inflationary data and if it maintains that, I think the market would view that as a positive. If you start to see that reverse out a little bit, that becomes somewhat problematic because is that the beginning of a new upward trend?” Barnes said.

Fed funds futures traders are pricing in 49 basis points of cuts by year-end, with the first rate reduction expected at the Fed’s September 16-17 meeting.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the new tariffs have further muddied the inflation outlook and might force the Fed to maintain its wait-and-see posture until the central bank gets more clarity.

US gross customs duties revenue grew to a record USD 27.2 billion in June as collections from the tariffs gained steam, combining with calendar shifts in receipts and outlays to produce a USD 27 billion federal budget surplus for the month, the US Treasury said on Friday.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes was last up 7.7 basis points on the day at 4.423%. Interest rate-sensitive two-year note yields rose 4.4 basis points to 3.912%.

The yield curve between two- and 10-year notes steepened by around three basis points to 51 basis points.

Traders pared expectations on how many times the US central bank will cut rates this year after data last week showed employers added more jobs than anticipated in June.

Trump has criticized Powell and said he is being too slow to cut rates.

The White House on Thursday launched a new attack on the Fed Chair, with a top Trump administration official saying Powell had “grossly mismanaged” the central bank, chastising him for running a deficit and for extensive cost overruns for building renovations.

The Treasury Department on Friday also sought dealer feedback on the market’s capacity to absorb additional issuance of Treasury bills as it rebuilds its cash balance following the increase in the debt ceiling and faces a worsening budget deficit.

The survey was part of Treasury’s normal procedure ahead of its quarterly refunding announcement, which is next due later this month.

US Congress last week passed a tax and spending bill that increases the debt ceiling by USD 5 trillion. Treasury said on Tuesday it will build its cash balance to USD 500 billion by the end of July by increasing its issuance of Treasury bills.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Diane Craft)

Gold climbs over 1% on safe-haven bids as Trump imposes fresh tariffs

Gold prices rose more than 1% on Friday as investors sought safe-haven assets following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs, while silver reached its highest level in over 13 years.

Spot gold gained 1% to USD 3,356.93 per ounce by 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT), after touching its highest level since June 24 earlier in the session. US gold futures GCcv1 closed up 1.4% at USD 3,371.20.

Global stocks fell after Trump ramped up his tariff assault on Canada, saying the US would impose a 35% tariff on imports next month and planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trading partners. MKTS/GLOB

Trump this week also announced a 50% tariff on US copper imports and the same levy on goods from Brazil.

“We are in an environment where the uncertainty premium is back in the market and gold is getting a safe-haven bid,” said Aakash Doshi, global head of gold strategy at State Street Global Advisors.

“I think the range in the third quarter is most likely between USD 3,100 and USD 3,500. It’s been a very strong first half of the year, and I believe we’re now in a bit more of a consolidation phase.”

Non-yielding gold tends to perform well during economic uncertainty and in a low interest rate environment.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Thursday reaffirmed the possibility of a rate cut this month, with investors pricing in 50 basis points of cuts by year-end. USDIRPR

Elsewhere, spot silver rose 3.9% to USD 38.46 per ounce, its highest level since September 2011.

The premium of the US futures for silver, platinum and palladium against the London benchmarks rose after Trump’s copper tariff announcement this week, leading to a spike in lease rates.

“Traders unwound open positions on NYMEX/COMEX and had to borrow on the other side,” said a precious metals trader, adding that this activity in the so-called white metals did not affect gold.

Platinum 2.8% to USD 1,399.13 and palladium climbed 6.5% to USD 1,216.12.

The rally in palladium is likely driven by speculation that Trump’s upcoming ”
major” statement
on Russia, expected on Monday, could involve sanctions that impact the metal, said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader.

“Fundamentally palladium isn’t great but if Russian supplies are interrupted this could run for a bit.”

(Reporting by Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru and Polina Devitt in London; additional reporting by Sarah Qureshi; Editing by Paul Simao, Shailesh Kuber and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)

Oil rises over 2% as investors weigh market outlook, tariffs, sanctions

Oil prices rose over 2% on Friday as the International Energy Agency said the market was tighter than it appears, while US tariffs and possible further sanctions on Russia were also in focus.

Brent crude futures settled up USD 1.72, or 2.5%, at USD 70.36 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained USD 1.88, or 2.8%, to USD 68.45 a barrel.

For the week, Brent rose 3%, while WTI had a weekly gain of around 2.2%.

The IEA said the global oil market may be tighter than it appears, with demand supported by peak summer refinery runs to meet travel and power generation.

Front-month September Brent contracts were trading at about a USD 1.20 premium to October futures.

“The market is starting to realize that supplies are tight,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group.

US energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for an 11th straight week, energy services firm Baker Hughes said. The last time that happened was July 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic cut demand for fuel.

Short-term market tightness notwithstanding, the IEA boosted its forecast for supply growth this year, while trimming its outlook for growth in demand, implying a market in surplus.

“OPEC+ will quickly and significantly turn up the oil tap. There is a threat of significant oversupply. In the short term, however, oil prices remain supported,” Commerzbank analysts said. OPEC+ is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries plus allies including Russia.

Further adding support to the short-term price outlook, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia will compensate for overproduction against its OPEC+ quota this year in the August-September period.

Another sign of robust short-term demand was the prospect of Saudi Arabia shipping about 51 million barrels of crude oil in August to China, the biggest such shipment in more than two years.

On a longer-term basis, however, OPEC cut its forecasts for global oil demand in the 2026-2029 period because of slowing Chinese demand in its 2025 World Oil Outlook, published on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said on Friday the kingdom had been fully compliant with its voluntary OPEC+ output target.

On Thursday, both benchmark futures contracts lost more than 2% as investors worried about the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on global economic growth and oil demand.

Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he will make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday, without elaborating.

Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to the lack of progress in ending the war in Ukraine and Russia’s intensifying bombardment of Ukrainian cities.

The European Commission is set to propose a floating Russian oil price cap this week as part of a new draft sanctions package, but Russia said it has “good experience” of tackling and minimizing such challenges.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Robert Harvey in London, Colleen Howe in Beijing and Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Mark Potter, Elaine Hardcastle, Paul Simao, Kevin Liffey and David Gregorio)

Stocks advance as investors stay calm against tariff rhetoric

Stock markets in emerging Asian economies pressed forward on Thursday, led by South Korea, as investors took in stride US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvos, betting the most damaging scenarios were unlikely to materialize.

An MSCI gauge of emerging Asian equities inched higher, supported by stocks in South Korea, which jumped 1.6% to a near four-year high, and Taiwan stocks, which advanced 0.8%.

A subset of ASEAN equities jumped to a two-week high. Singapore stocks, which account for nearly half of the index, hit a new high for the seventh consecutive session, driven by strong inflows into industrials, telecom, and banks.

Investors dismissed Trump’s latest tariff threats as rhetoric, expecting them to be a tactic to extract more concessions from trade partners, said analysts.

“Since Trump took office, he has created a lot of noise in the market. But compare that noise today with three months ago; it is no longer creating that kind of volatility,” said Ernest Chew, head of ASEAN equities at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

“Investing in ASEAN will remain focused on a very bottom-up approach. If we see opportunities, we will continue to put the trickles on. If there is a sector or a company that we think is very attractive, we will start to do some bottom-fishing.”

Market participants will keenly scrutinize headlines from the trade negotiations between emerging economies and the United States. Eyes are on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first visit to Asia during an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

Most EM Asia currencies rebounded as the dollar slipped from a two-week high scaled in the previous session. Analysts believe that while Trump’s tariff letters exerted pressure on currencies, the reaction was much less dramatic than in April.

In the lead were the Philippine peso PHP= and Thailand’s baht, firming 0.4% each against the US dollar.

Malaysia’s ringgit erased early gains to trade largely flat. The country’s central bank slashed its key interest rate for the first time in five years on Wednesday, citing trade-related risks to growth.

A fortnightly survey by Reuters showed traders trimmed their long positions in most Asian currencies as Trump’s threats to ramp up tariffs dampened appetite for risk assets, although such bets on the Taiwan and Singapore dollars shot up.

Among stock markets, Indonesia jumped to a three-week high in its fourth straight session of gains. Malaysia turned flat in the afternoon session, while the Philippines slipped further to finish 0.6% in red.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesia’s 10-year benchmark yield at 6.585%

** A FTSE ASEAN index dominated by banks up 0.6%, few points short of six-week high

** Indonesia, US eye wider critical minerals partnership after ‘positive’ meeting

** Thai stock market closed for holiday

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0710 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.08	+7.51	.N225	-0.44	-0.62
China	CNY=CFXS	+0.07	+1.71	.SSEC	0.53	4.76
India	INR=IN	+0.13	+0.06	.NSEI	-0.32	7.40
Indonesia	IDR=	+0.12	-0.80	.JKSE	0.61	-1.32
Malaysia	MYR=	-0.05	+5.13	.KLSE	0.13	-6.77
Philippines	PHP=	+0.35	+2.94	.PSI	-0.63	-1.00
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	+0.31	+7.39	.KS11	1.58	32.66
Singapore	SGD=	+0.11	+6.76	.STI	0.41	7.57
Taiwan	TWD=TP	-0.29	+12.13	.TWII	0.74	-1.48
Thailand	THB=TH	+0.37	+5.38	.SETI	–	-20.70

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Subhranshu Sahu)

US yields drop after strong 10-year auction

US Treasury yields fell on Wednesday after the Treasury saw strong demand for a USD 39 billion sale of 10-year notes, indicating that concerns about investors stepping away from the market appear so far to be unfounded.

The 10-year auction priced with a high yield of 4.362%, around half a basis point below where it had traded before the sale. Demand was 2.61 times the amount of debt on offer, the highest since April.

“It was digested pretty easily and it shows that there is appetite for Treasuries. The ‘Sell America’ thinking has diminished considerably,” said Kim Rupert, managing director at Action Economics in San Francisco.

A worsening fiscal outlook has raised concerns about increased US debt supply in coming years. Uncertainty over the impact of tariffs and other Trump administration policies is also seen as potentially crimping foreign demand for US assets.

So far, however, there has been no clear signs that foreign investors are turning away from Treasuries. Longer-dated debt is also being supported by comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that there are no plans to increase longer-dated auction sizes at current interest rates.

“The market has a track record of digesting supply well and the Treasury Secretary continues to communicate that coupon issuance will be well managed,” said Michael Lorizio, head of US rates trading at Manulife Investment Management in Boston.

A USD 58 billion three-year note auction on Tuesday saw slightly soft interest. The government will sell USD 22 billion in 30-year bonds on Thursday.

The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes was last down 7.7 basis points on the day at 4.34%.

Interest rate-sensitive two-year note yields fell 4.7 basis points to 3.862%.

The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes flattened by around three basis points to 48 basis points.

US President Donald Trump issued final tariff notices to seven minor trading partners on Wednesday as his administration inched closer to a deal with its biggest trading partner, the European Union.

The prospect of higher price pressures from tariffs is seen keeping the Federal Reserve on hold while the labor market remains relatively solid.

“As long as we’re relatively subdued in terms of the unemployment rate, I think that the Fed feels emboldened to wait to see what the inflation impact is before they make any changes,” said Lorizio. “That just puts on hold any sort of positioning for rate cuts.”

Traders pared bets on how many times the Fed will cut rates this year after jobs data on Thursday showed employers added more jobs than expected in June.

Minutes from the Fed’s June 17-18 meeting released on Wednesday showed that only “a couple” of officials felt interest rates could fall as soon as this month, with most policymakers remaining worried to some degree about inflationary pressures from tariffs.

(Reporting by Karen Brettell, Editing by Franklin Paul and Nick Zieminski)

Oil steady on strong gasoline demand, Red Sea attacks while Trump tariffs loom

HOUSTON – Oil prices were steady on Wednesday as investors weighed strong US gasoline demand data and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, while US copper tariffs loomed.

Brent crude futures settled up 4 cents, or 0.06%, to USD 70.19 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 5 cents, or 0.07%, to USD 68.38 a barrel.

US crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

Crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended July 4, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of 2.1 million barrels.

Gasoline demand rose 6% to 9.2 million barrels per day last week, the EIA said.

“Demand seems to be solid and not slowing down,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst with Price Futures Group.

After months of calm in the Red Sea, attacks in the major global shipping lane were renewed in the past week. Rescuers pulled six crew members alive from the Red Sea on Wednesday and 15 were still missing from the second of two ships sunk in recent days in attacks claimed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia after months of calm.

Oil prices were also supported by an EIA forecast on Tuesday that the US will produce less oil in 2025 than previously expected, as declining prices have prompted US producers to slow activity.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he would impose a 50% tariff on copper, aiming to boost US production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods.

Trump made the announcement as he delayed a deadline for some tariffs to August 1, spurring hopes among major trade partners that deals to ease duties could still be reached, though many remain uncertain.

Elsewhere, OPEC+ oil producers were set for another big output boost for September as they complete both the unwinding of voluntary production cuts by eight members, and the United Arab Emirates’ move to a larger quota, five sources said.

On Saturday, OPEC+ approved a supply increase of 548,000 barrels per day for August.

“Oil prices have stayed surprisingly resilient in the face of accelerated OPEC+ supply additions,” said Suvro Sarkar, energy sector team lead at DBS Bank.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said on Wednesday that oil markets were absorbing OPEC+ production increases without building inventories, which means they are thirsty for more oil.

“You can see that even with the increases for several months we haven’t seen a major buildup in inventories, which means the market needed those barrels,” he said.

(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston, Paul Carsten in London, Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, and Trixie Yap in Singapore; Editing by Rachna Uppal, Bernadette Baum, Joe Bavier, Sharon Singleton, Paul Simao, David Gregorio, and Rod Nickel)

Nvidia’s stock market value hits USD 4 trillion on AI dominance

Nvidia briefly reached a market capitalization of USD 4 trillion on Wednesday, making it the first company in the world to reach the milestone and solidifying its position as one of Wall Street’s most-favored stocks.

Shares of the leading chip designer rose as much as 2.8% to an all-time high of USD 164.42, benefiting from an ongoing surge in demand for artificial-intelligence technologies.

The company’s stock ended with a gain of 1.80%, leaving it with a market value of USD 3.97 trillion.

Nvidia’s soaring market value underscores Wall Street’s confidence in the rapid growth of AI, with the company’s high-performance chips forming the backbone of this technological advance.

“It highlights the fact that companies are shifting their asset spend in the direction of AI and it’s pretty much the future of technology,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in New York.

The stock’s recent rally follows a sluggish start to the year, when the emergence of a Chinese discount artificial-intelligence model developed by DeepSeek shook confidence in stocks linked to the sector.

Nvidia achieved a USD 1 trillion market value for the first time in June 2023 and tripled it in about a year, faster than Apple and Microsoft, the only other US firms with market values above USD 3 trillion.

Microsoft is the second-most valuable US company, with a market capitalization of USD 3.74 trillion. Its shares gained 1.4% on Wednesday to close at USD 503.51.

Nvidia has rebounded about 74% from its lows in April, when global markets were jolted from US President Donald Trump‘s tariff volley.

Optimism around trade partners reaching deals with the US has lifted stocks of late, with the S&P 500 hitting an all-time high.

Nvidia accounts for 7.3% of the S&P 500. Apple and Microsoft account for around 7% and 6%, respectively.

Nvidia is now worth more than the combined value of the Canadian and Mexican stock markets, according to LSEG data, and it exceeds the total value of all publicly listed companies in the UK.

Its stock recently traded at a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 32, below its three-year average of 37, according to data compiled by LSEG.

While Nvidia’s chips dominate the AI industry, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and other major customers have faced pressure from investors to rein in their heavy spending on AI.

As well, Advanced Micro Devices and other rivals aim to take some of Nvidia’s market share by selling lower-cost processors.

Nvidia reported total revenue of USD 44.1 billion in the first quarter, marking a 69% jump from a year ago.

For the second quarter, Nvidia expects revenue of USD 45 billion, plus or minus 2%. It will report second-quarter results on August 27.

Including the session’s gains, Nvidia is up about 22% this year compared with a nearly 15% rise in the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Chuck Mikolajczak, Arun Koyyur, and Matthew Lewis)

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