Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq climb as Wall Street eyes Trump moves on Fed

US stocks rose on Friday as Wall Street assessed President Trump's nomination of Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and took in his new regime of sweeping tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.5%, and the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) climbed 0.8%.

Gold futures (GC=F) in New York rose above London prices on Friday after the Financial Times reported that the US now plans to put tariffs on gold bar imports.

Stocks had traded mixed during the day on Thursday as investors assessed a reshaped trade landscape after Trump's deadline for countries to strike deals on tariffs expired, setting in motion higher duties on dozens of countries worldwide. The indexes trimmed earlier losses following Trump's nomination of Stephen Miran, current chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, to serve on the Fed board.

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs

Miran's nomination must pass Senate approval, and it's unclear how long that might take with lawmakers on August recess. Trump's decision on Miran also underscored his search for the next Fed chair. He has talked up the "two Kevins" — current economic adviser Hassett and former Fed governor Warsh — and a report on Thursday said current governor Christopher Waller is seen as the favorite by Trump's team.

Amid all the jockeying, about 90% of bets are on the current Fed to cut rates in September.

This week has been a bumpy ride for Wall Street. Monday opened with markets recovering from a disappointing slew of job data that stoked fears of broader economic troubles and led to increased rate cut bets. Corporate earnings and the question of how companies like Apple (AAPL) might weather Trump's latest tariffs largely drove investor sentiment throughout the week.

Altcoins were rallying early Friday following news that Ripple (RIPL.PVT) would buy a stablecoin payments platform and Chainlink will launch a funded reserve for its own tokens, Yahoo Finance's Jake Conley reports.

Conley writes:

Ripple's XRP (XRP-USD) was up as much as 8% early Friday while Chainlink's LINK (LINK-USD) rose as much as 11%.

Ethereum (ETH-USD) and Solana (SOL-USD) were up more than 1% and more than 2%, respectively, before the open of the equity market on Friday morning.

Ripple (RIPL.PVT), the company behind XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, announced Thursday that it would acquire Rail, a stablecoin-based global payments solution Ripple said will help the company to build out its own stablecoin payments platform.

The deal, valued at $200 million and expected to close in Q4 of this year, will \\"offer comprehensive stablecoin pay-ins and pay-outs across key corridors, including USD payments, without requiring customers to hold crypto on their balance sheets,\\" according to the press release announcing the deal.

Read the full story here.

Trade Desk (TTD) stock fell by more than a third during premarket trading on Friday after CEO Jeff Green warned that tariff uncertainty began to weigh on some leading global advertisers.

If losses hold, the decline in Trade Desk stock would wipe out more than $12 billion from the company's market capitalization. The stock was off by 38% just after the opening bell.

The Trade Desk, which specializes in helping advertisers buy and optimize digital ad campaigns, has concentrated on large global advertisers, making them more vulnerable to tariff uncertainty.

\\"The impact of tariffs and related policies on these [large] businesses are very real,\\" Green said on the earnings call. \\"Most others rely heavily on SMBs, and our platform is largely concentrated on the large global advertisers. So we see the effects that are directly impacting them.\\"

\\"I would argue that this is a short-term negative,\\" he added, noting that the company's focus on large companies \\"is almost always a positive, but just in this moment, it's negative because of how uniquely they're being affected by the tariffs and related policies.\\"

The Trade Desk's second quarter earnings of $0.18 per share were in line with analyst estimates. Revenue of $694 million beat analyst estimates of $686 million, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company expects third quarter revenue of at least $717 million, roughly in line with estimates.

Read more here.

US stocks moved higher at the open on Friday as investors continued to digest President Trump's sweeping tariffs and absorbed his nomination of Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.3%, while those on the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.35%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also gained nearly 0.4%.

Gold (GC=F) prices rose 0.85% on Friday to $3,483 per ounce as the industry learned that gold bars are not exempt from President Trump's latest across-the-board tariffs, which went into effect Thursday, as previously thought.

Bloomberg reports:

US Customs and Border Protection has clarified that one-kilogram and 100-ounce gold bars are subject to reciprocal tariffs enacted by President Donald Trump, and are not exempted as the industry had initially understood, according to a letter from the agency seen by Bloomberg. The ruling was first reported by the Financial Times.

Gold futures in New York — which are backed by those forms of bullion — surged to a record high, as traders, analysts and executives across the industry were left reeling. The move threatens to disrupt shipments from Switzerland and other key trading and refining hubs including Hong Kong and London, where prices are now trading at a big discount to the US market.

Traders and analysts are scrambling to understand the full scope and consequences of the ruling, including whether the CBP would treat larger 400-ounce bars that underpin trading in London in the same way, and what the levies for major gold-producing countries will be. The potential market consequences are so profound that some questioned whether the dramatic change could be an error on the CBP’s part, and suggested it may be subject to legal challenges.

Read more here.

SoundHound AI (SOUN) reported record revenue in its second quarter results, as its expansion into new verticals, such as restaurants and hospitals, helped fuel 217% year-over-year revenue growth.

The stock rocketed 2% higher in premarket trading on Friday.

SoundHound develops artificial intelligence solutions that businesses use for automation and to create conversational experiences for their customers. In Q2, SoundHound reported strong growth in its automation, automotive, and enterprise AI for customer service verticals.

The company posted a GAAP loss of $0.19 per share on $42.7 million in revenue. Last year, SoundHound reported a loss of $0.11 per share and revenue of $13 million.

SoundHound also raised its 2025 revenue outlook to $160 million to $178 million, up from its previous forecast of $157 million to $177 million.

\\"The investments we are making are already showing high returns,\\" SoundHound CFO Nitesh Sharan said on the company's earnings call. Sharan noted that the company sees a path to profitability \\"in the near-term horizon.

Listen to the earnings call here.

Economic calendar: No notable releases.

Earnings: Canopy Growth (CGC), fuboTV (FUBO), Wendy's (WEN)

Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

Apple is back on Trump's good side. The cost? $600 billion.

Not everyone on Wall Street is still convinced a cut is coming

Trump's tariffs hit automakers with $11.7B blow — and rising

Tesla disbands Dojo supercomputer team in blow to AI effort

US sparks fresh turmoil in gold with surprise tariff

Firefly stock loses altitude after sizzling stock market debut

TSMC's July sales grow 26% on sustained demand for AI chips

Under Armour forecasts downbeat quarterly sales, shares drop

Intel CEO dogged by decades of China chip bets, board work

China defends buying Russian oil after Trump's tariff threat

SoftBank buys Foxconn's Ohio plant to jumpstart Stargate AI push

Tesla (TSLA) stock fell 0.2% in premarket trading following news that CEO Elon Musk is shutting down the company's Dojo team, its multibillion-dollar supercomputer unit that was viewed as central to the company's AI efforts.

Bloomberg reports that Peter Bannon, who was heading up Dojo, is leaving Tesla. Dojo also lost about 20 workers recently to DensityAI, a stealth startup created by ex-Tesla executives. The remaining Dojo employees are being reassigned to other compute projects within Tesla.

Musk previously called Dojo \\"a long shot,\\" but one worth taking. Now, Tesla plans to rely on partners like Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for training its AI models and machine learning that go into electric vehicles' Full Self-Driving software and Optimus robots. Tesla also announced a $16.5 billion deal last month with Samsung to secure AI chips through 2033.

Read more here.

Under Armour (UA) stock slumped 12% before the bell on Friday after the sportswear maker forecast second-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.

The company is grappling with muted demand in North America due to still-high inflation and tariff uncertainty.

Reuters reports:

The Maryland-based retailer's attempts to reset its business after sales declined over the last two years have been in jeopardy, with consumer spending weakening in the U.S. as the Trump administration's fluctuating tariff policies fan uncertainty.

Under Armour in May announced plans to raise prices, risking demand for its apparel as customers look for cheaper options.

Read more here.

Gold futures (GC=F) in New York rose above London prices after the FT reported that the US now plans to put tariffs on 1kg gold bar imports.

Bloomberg News reports:

Contracts for December delivery — the most actively traded contract — soared as markets opened in Asia on Friday, with their premium over spot climbing to more than $125 an ounce before easing to around $101 as of 8:01 a.m. in London. The magnitude of the divergence is unusual and mirrors a similar blowout earlier this year when fears over potential US tariffs created large price dislocations.

New York futures typically trade in lockstep with the London spot price. Gold in New York surged to an all-time high at $3,534.10 an ounce before paring some gains. Prices in London were little changed at $3,396.04.

Read more here.

Oil is heading for its longest losing run since 2021, as markets digested the US efforts to try and end the war in Ukraine and whether this would not impact overall supplies, alongside Trump's tariffs on India due to its purchase of Russian crude oil.

Bloomberg News reports:

Brent (BZ=F) fell toward $66 a barrel, down for a seventh straight session, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was below $64. US President Donald Trump — who’d set a deadline of Friday for Moscow to agree to a truce — said that he’d be willing to meet with Vladimir Putin, even if the Russian leader hasn’t yet agreed to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Earlier this week, Trump doubled levies on all Indian imports to 50% as a penalty for the nation taking Russian crude, prompting local state-owned oil refiners to pull back from purchases and look elsewhere. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, said the US may also impose tariffs on China at some point, when asked about targeting countries that buy Moscow’s energy.

Read more here.

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