Wall Street drifts as stock markets worldwide take Trump's new tariffs
in stride
[August 08, 2025] By
STAN CHOE
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Thursday as
President Donald Trump’s tariffs taking effect on dozens of countries
had only a muted effect on markets worldwide.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% after briefly climbing to the cusp of its
all-time high during the morning. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
dropped 224 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3% to a
record.
Worries are high that Trump’s tariffs are damaging the economy,
particularly after last week’s worse-than-expected report on the job
market. But hopes for coming cuts to interest rates by the Federal
Reserve and a torrent of stronger-than-expected profit reports from big
U.S. companies are helping to offset the concerns, at least for now.
Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost,
though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher. The
Bank of England cut its main interest rate on Thursday in hopes of
bolstering the sluggish U.K. economy.
The U.S. tariffs that took effect Thursday morning were already well
known, as well as lower than what Trump had initially threatened. Some
countries are still trying to negotiate down the tax rates on their
exports, and continued uncertainty seems to be the only certainty on
Wall Street. All the while, the U.S. stock market faces criticism that
it’s climbed too far, too fast since hitting a bottom in April, with
prices looking too expensive.
On Wall Street, worries about tariffs helped drag down the stock of
Crocs.

The footwear maker tumbled 29.2% even though it reported a stronger
profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it expects
revenue to drop as much as 11% in the current quarter from a year
earlier, while tariffs are dragging on its profitability. The company
cited “continued uncertainty from evolving global trade policy and
related pressures around the consumer.”
Eli Lilly dropped 14.1% even though the drugmaker likewise reported a
stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Analysts
said some investors were disappointed with results that Lilly provided
for a late-stage study of its potential pill version of the popular
weight-loss drug Zepbound.
Intel sank 3.1% after Trump called for its CEO to resign, while accusing
him of being “highly CONFLICTED,” though he gave no evidence.
Apple helped keep the market’s losses in check, as it rose on hopes that
its massive size can help it navigate Trump’s economy. Its stock climbed
3.2% after CEO Tim Cook joined Trump at the White House on Wednesday to
say it’s increasing its investment in U.S. manufacturing by an
additional $100 billion over the next four years.
Trump also announced a 100% tariff on imported computer chips, but he
added “if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no
charge.”
“Large, cash-rich companies that can afford to build in America will be
the ones to benefit the most,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at
Annex Wealth Management. “It’s survival of the biggest.”
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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday,
Aug. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

DoorDash added 5% after the delivery app topped Wall Street’s profit
expectations for the latest quarter. It attracted new customers and saw
the total number of orders increase.
Duolingo, the language-learning app, jumped 13.7% after it crushed Wall
Street’s expectations. The company said its subscription revenue grew
46% over the same period last year.
All told the S&P 500 edged down by 5.06 points to 6,340.00. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average dipped 224.48 to 43,968.64, and the Nasdaq
composite rose 73.27 to 21,242.70.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Stocks climbed 0.2% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Hong Kong after China
reported that its exports picked up in July, helped by a flurry of
shipments as businesses took advantage of a pause in Trump’s tariff war
with Beijing.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.6%. Toyota Motor’s stock fell after it cut its
full-year earnings forecasts largely because of Trump’s tariffs, but
Sony rose after the entertainment and electronics company indicated it’s
taking less damage from the tariffs than it had expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.23% from
4.22% late Wednesday after the latest reports on the U.S. economy came
in mixed.
One said that slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment
benefits last week. That could be an indication of rising layoffs, but
the number remains within its recent range.
“There is nothing to see here!” according to Carl Weinberg, chief
economist at High Frequency Economics. “These are not nearly recession
readings.”

A separate report said that productivity for U.S. workers improved by
more during the spring than economists expected. That could help the
U.S. economy grow without adding more pressure on inflation. And that’s
particularly important when Trump’s tariffs look set to increase prices
for all kinds of things that U.S. households and businesses buy.
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AP Business Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
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