Early Look

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

U.S. equity trading markets were subdued overnight, looking little changed this morning after digesting tariff news yesterday that pulled major averages down from all-time highs. President Trump issued letters to 14 global trading partners, including Japan and South Korea, outlining tariff rates they would pay if they didn’t strike trade deals. However, the President extended the date when his so-called reciprocal tariffs would take effect to Aug. 1 from July 9, giving more time for negotiation which helped soften the blow of the tariff hikes. Trump threatened levies of 25% on goods from Japan and South Korea, while emerging-market currencies sank after Trump announced 25% tariff rates on Malaysia and Kazakhstan, while South Africa would see a 30% tariff and Laos and Myanmar would face a 40% levy. Trump also warned he’d add extra tariffs on any country that aligns with “the Anti-American policies of BRICS.” Overnight, President Trump notes U.S. will impose 25% tariff on Tunisia, will impose 32% tariff on Indonesia, will impose 35% tariff on Bangladesh, will impose 30% tariff on Bosnia, will impose a 35% tariff on Serbia, will impose 36% tariff on Cambodia and will impose 36% tariff on Thailand. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index advanced 101 points to 39,688, the Shanghai Index gains 24 points to 3,497, and the Hang Seng Index jumps 260 points to 24,148. In Europe, the German DAX is up 87 points to 24,161, while the FTSE 100 rises 16 points to 8,822. In currency markets, the Japanese yen struggles after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that he plans to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Japan and South Korea, while the Aussie dollar rises after the country’s Central bank surprised markets by leaving interest rates steady at 3.85% (vs. an expected rate cut). Trade and tariffs dominated the headlines yesterday as the S&P posted its worst trading day since mid-June, with attention turning to Treasury auctions the remainder of the week and the start of earnings season next week.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -422.17 points, or 0.94%, to 44,406.36
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -188.59 points, or 0.92%, to 20,412.52
• The Russell 2000 Index declined -34.80 points, or 1.55% to 2,212.23

• 7:45 AM ET ICSC Weekly Retail Sales
• 8:55 AM ET                  Johnson/Redbook Weekly Sales
• 1:00 PM ET U.S. Treasury to sell $58B in 3-year notes
• 3:00 PM ET                   Consumer Credit for May
• 4:30 PM ET API Weekly Inventory Data

• Earnings After the Close: KRUS PENG SAR

• TopBuild (BLD) has entered into an agreement to acquire Progressive Roofing, a portfolio company of Bow River Capital, for $810M in cash
• Uber Technologies (UBER) closed at a record high of $96.68 on Monday, rising 3.3% in the session.

• Vistra Energy (VST) announced that it has received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operation of its 1,268-megawatt Perry Nuclear Power Plant through 2046, an additional 20 years beyond its original license. The plant first connected to the grid in 1986 and is currently operating under its initial 40-year license
• SunRun (RUN), Enphase Energy (ENPH), First Solar (FSLR): Solar stocks fell in premarket trading Tuesday after the White House said it would enforce the termination of clean-electricity tax credits faster than expected.

• Comerica (CMA) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Raymond James.
• KeyCorp (KEY) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS and raised tgt to $22 from $16.
• PNC Financial (PNC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
• Robinhood (HOOD) CEO Vlad Tenev said tokenization could solve the issue of liquidity “by tapping into a global network of hundreds of millions of crypto market participants.” Robinhood is launching their own crypto tokens, including tokens linked to OpenAI and SpaceX, hoping to give retail investors more access to private companies.
• Truist Financial (TFC) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
• UWM Holdings (UWMC) upgraded to overweight from equal weight by Barclays.

• Merit Medical (MMSI) said it sees Q2 revenue $380M-$384M vs. consensus $372.47M, a projected increase of approximately 12% to 14% compared to revenue reported for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.
• Merck (MRK) announced that new data from its research pipeline for HIV prevention and treatment will be presented at the 13th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025) taking place July 13-17, 2025.

• Datadog (DDOG) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Guggenheim
• KLA Corp. (KLAC) was downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo as shares significantly outperformed the group and trade well above its median price to earnings at about 26x.
• Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) said it expects quarterly operating profit to fall by more than half from a year earlier, hurt by U.S. trade curbs on China and delayed sales of AI chips to Nvidia (NVDA).