Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Thursday as investors assessed the Bank of Japan’s decision to stand pat on short-term interest rates at 0.5% for the fourth consecutive time, in line with expectations. Investors are also evaluating the U.S.′ blanket 15% tariffs on imports from South Korea and 25% duties on imports from India, along with an unspecified “penalty.” Asia-Pacific markets mostly ended lower Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.51% in its last hour while mainland China’s CSI 300 index declined 1.82% to 4,075.59. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi index lost 0.28% to close at 3,245.44, while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.2% to 805.24. Over in India, the 50-stock benchmark Nifty 50 was up 0.18%, while the BSE Sensex index was flat as of 1.05 p.m. Indian Standard Time (3.35 a.m. ET).
Stocks slid on Thursday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hitting intraday records before pulling back from those levels, as struggles in the broader market overshadowed blockbuster results from megacap tech giants Microsoft and Meta Platforms. The S&P 500 was last 0.4% lower, while the Nasdaq Composite closed near the flat line. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, dropping 330 points, or 0.7%. The continued rise of tech stocks failed to boost the broader market on Thursday, however, with six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors in the red. Stocks suffered from a reappraisal of Federal Reserve policy after this week’s central bank meeting left many investors questioning if rates will fall in September, or twice the year.
Gold prices rose on Thursday as traders turned to the safe haven asset amid ongoing tariff uncertainty, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s August 1 deadline to end negotiations approaches. Spot gold was up 0.6% at $3,295.11 per ounce. U.S. gold futures slipped 0.2% to $3,347.8. U.S. inflation increased in June as tariffs on imports started raising the cost of some goods. The PCE index rose 0.3% last month after an upwardly revised 0.2% gain in May.
Oil prices fell on Thursday as investors weighed the extension of an existing trade deal between the U.S. and Mexico, while a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks on Wednesday also dragged on prices. Brent crude futures declined by 71 cents, or 0.97%, to close at $72.53 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September fell 74 cents, or 1.06%, to settle at $69.26. Both benchmarks had recorded 1% gains on Wednesday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had agreed to extend an existing trade deal between their two countries for 90 days and to continue talks over that period with the goal of signing a new deal.
The dollar was poised for its first monthly gain of the year against major currencies on Thursday, underpinned by easing trade tensions and U.S. economic resilience. That came after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, ignoring persistent calls by President Donald Trump to lower borrowing costs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell also indicated he was in no rush to cut rates. The greenback has been bolstered by a hawkish Fed and U.S. economic resilience, with uncertainty over Trump’s chaotic tariffs easing after an array of trade deals.
German inflation fell more than expected to 1.8% in July, data from statistics agency Destatis showed Thursday. The figures are harmonized across the euro zone to ensure comparability. Euro zone inflation data is due later this week, with the reading forecast to come in at 1.9%. So-called core inflation, which strips out food and energy costs, came in at 2.7% in July, unchanged from the previous month, the data showed. Meanwhile the closely watched services inflation print eased further from 3.3% in June to 3.1% in July. Inflation figures are being watched closely by economists and analysts as they assess the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not raise U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods beyond their current levels for 90 days, in order to give the neighbouring countries time to strike a trade deal. Trump recently threatened to raise the blanket tariff rate on Mexican imports to 30%, up from the 25% duty he had previously imposed to address alleged cross-border crime and drug trafficking. Mexico is also exposed to a 25% tariff on auto imports and 50% tariffs on metals commodities. The new rate for Mexico was set to take effect Friday, when Trump’s paused “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries are set to snap back into place. But Trump said Thursday morning that he would postpone any tariff changes, as a result of his “very successful” call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday expressed confidence that the U.S. and China are on the way to a trade pact as a key tariff deadline nears. “I believe that we have the makings of a deal,” Bessent said during an interview. Bessent did not provide any details on what a final deal with China would look like. However, he stressed that he hasn’t discussed the issue yet with President Donald Trump, noting that the two sides negotiated in Stockholm for two days in talks he characterized as “tough.” Trump has said he would need to sign off personally on any deal with China. The two sides currently are in truce over tariffs after launching aggressive duties on each other previously. They have until Aug. 12 to come to an agreement. The U.S. has expressed concern about China purchasing Iranian oil and supplying Russia with technology that could be used on the battlefield.
A federal appeals court appeared sceptical Thursday of arguments from a Justice Department lawyer defending President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime. Trump has claimed he has the power to impose a vast array of new tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. His use of that statute — which does not mention the word tariffs — is the first time since it became law in 1977 that it has been invoked by a president to impose tariffs on imports from other countries. Plaintiffs in the case say the IEEPA contains no such tariff-setting authority for a president, and argue that Trump has usurped the power of Congress to set tariffs since he regained the White House in January.
India expects to secure “preferential” tariffs from the United States that are better than those achieved by its economic rivals, according to India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Goyal, who led the negotiations on the U.K.-India trade agreement, signalled a confident approach from New Delhi in ongoing trade talks with Washington. The minister said the negotiations were “progressing extremely well” towards a deal aimed at achieving the $500 billion bilateral trade target by 2030, a goal previously set by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His comments were in response to a question about whether India could hope for better terms than the tariffs currently faced by Japan and Vietnam on some of their U.S. exports.
Amazon’s cloud group grew recorded revenue growth of 18% in the second quarter, slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates. Amazon Web Services continues to lead the cloud infrastructure market, but is facing intensifying pressure from Microsoft and Google, as all three companies ramp up investments in artificial intelligence to take advantage of booming demand. AWS’ revenue for the second quarter totalled $30.87 billion, Amazon said on Thursday. AWS now represents 18% of Amazon’s revenue. During the quarter, AWS said it would open a data centre region in Chile before 2027, and PepsiCo announced a multi-year agreement that involves moving workloads to the Amazon cloud.
Apple reported third-quarter earnings on Thursday that topped Wall Street expectations for profit and revenue. iPhone sales grew 13% year-over-year and overall revenue grew 10% — Apple’s largest quarterly revenue growth since December 2021. Apple shares were up about 2% in after-hours trading on Thursday. Cook said that about 1 of the company’s 10 percentage points of revenue growth could be attributed to customers buying more products to get ahead of potential tariffs. The company’s most important business remains the iPhone, which saw 13% growth on an annual basis during the quarter to $44.58 billion in sales. Cook said that iPhone revenue was strong because the iPhone 16 is more popular compared to the iPhone 15 devices on sale last year at the same time. The company’s services business, which includes the company’s warranties, content subscriptions, licensing deals with Google, and iCloud continued to grow to $27.42 billion in the period, a 13% increase.
Paramount Global posted second-quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street estimates on Thursday as the company prepares for a sale to Skydance Media. Shares of Paramount rose 0.2% in after-hours trading to $12.60. The owner of the CBS broadcast network, a film studio and several cable channels reported adjusted earnings-per-share of 46 cents for April through June. Revenue rose 1% from a year earlier to $6.85 billion, edging the analyst consensus of $6.84 billion. Subscription revenue growth at the Paramount+ streaming service helped boost affiliate and subscription revenue, Paramount said in its earnings report. The $8.4 billion sale of Paramount to Skydance is expected to close by Aug. 7. The U.S. government cleared the final hurdle to the deal last week.
Qualcomm shares fell nearly 5% in early trading on Thursday as the looming loss of Apple as its biggest modem customer and higher dependency on premium smartphone chips outweighed its upbeat quarterly forecast. Shares of the mobile chip designer were last down at $152.55. The San Diego-based chip supplier warned investors that Apple’s move to depend on in-house modems, starting with the February launch of the iPhone 16e would hit future chip revenue. Qualcomm has intensified its focus on sectors such as data centres and personal computers. While smartphones and semiconductor chips have so far been exempted from these levies, Trump recently warned he would "soon announce tariffs on semiconductors," raising concerns of sector-specific duties.
Eli Lilly and Company stock fell on Thursday morning after the pharmaceutical giant’s diabetes drug Mounjaro failed to demonstrate superiority over its older GLP-1 drug Trulicity in a cardiovascular outcomes trial. Lilly’s shares declined as much as 4.5% before paring the drop to 2.25% following the release of topline results from the SURPASS-CVOT trial, which compared the two incretin therapies in adults with type 2 diabetes and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. "Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro met the primary endpoint in the SURPASS-CVOT trial, demonstrating a non-inferior rate of major adverse cardiovascular events vs. Trulicity. Yet this is undermined by the fact that the trial also tested for superiority, but that was not achieved (or at least not disclosed in the initial release).
First Solar, Inc. shares jumped 4.4% after the American solar technology manufacturer reported second-quarter earnings that significantly exceeded analyst expectations, driven by increased module sales. The company reported second-quarter adjusted earnings of $3.18 per share, surpassing the analyst consensus of $2.66 by 19.5%. Revenue reached $1.1 billion, up 8.7% from the $1.04 billion analysts had projected and representing a 30% increase from the first quarter. The revenue growth was primarily attributed to higher volumes of solar modules sold to third parties. The company raised its revenue forecast to $4.9-$5.7 billion from the earlier projection of $4.5-$5.5 billion. The company’s net cash balance increased to $0.6 billion at the end of the second quarter, up from $0.4 billion in the previous quarter, boosted by proceeds from the sale of Section 45X tax credits.