NEW YORK, July 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended mixed on Tuesday, as investors weighed escalating trade threats from U.S. President Donald Trump against bullish revisions to Wall Street's outlook for the rest of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 165.60 points, or 0.37 percent, to 44,240.76. The S&P 500 sank 4.46 points, or 0.07 percent, to 6,225.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased by 5.95 points, or 0.03 percent, to 20,418.46.
Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with consumer staples and utilities leading the laggards by losing 1.09 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, energy and materials led the gainers by rising 2.72 percent and 0.53 percent, respectively.
Trump reiterated his Aug. 1 deadline for finalizing trade deals, writing in a Truth Social post that "no extensions will be granted." At a Cabinet meeting later in the day, he announced a 50-percent tariff on copper imports, sending copper prices surging 13 percent to a record high. He also floated potential tariffs as high as 200 percent on pharmaceuticals and said he might notify the European Union within two days of new penalties if a deal is not reached.
Trump's aggressive tone came on the heels of letters sent Monday to 14 mostly Asian countries outlining duties scheduled to take effect next month. Despite the tough rhetoric, market reaction was relatively muted.
"If people believed it, we'd be down several percentage points," said market analyst Tom Essaye. "The fact that we're not means nobody believes it." He noted that while sentiment was extremely bearish in the spring, the market has become vulnerable to negative surprises now that indexes are hovering near all-time highs.
In contrast to trade concerns, two major investment banks boosted their year-end S&P 500 targets. Bank of America raised its target to 6,300, citing solid corporate earnings and resilient consumer spending. Goldman Sachs lifted its forecast to 6,600 from 6,100, although chief U.S. equity strategist David Kostin warned that the recent tech-driven rally has narrowed market breadth to its lowest level since 2023.
In equity moves, major technology shares were mixed. Tesla rose 1.32 percent as the stock rebounded from Monday's drop following news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk launched a new political party. Meta Platforms and Apple inched higher, while Microsoft and Broadcom edged slightly lower. Amazon declined more than 1 percent despite kicking off its Prime Day sales event, and Alphabet also slipped about 1 percent. Nvidia was up 1.11 percent after it got a price target bump from Citi on 'Sovereign AI' demand surge.
Market attention is turning to Wednesday's release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes from the Federal Reserve's June meeting. "This last policy meeting probably was a bit more contentious than the prior meeting in May," said Bob Lang, chief options analyst at Explosive Options. "There probably was a lot of discussion about when the next rate cut is going to be, so that's going to be important to help move markets along." ■
