This content was published on <\/p>\n
August 19, 2025 – 11:37\n<\/p>\n
(Bloomberg) \u2014 US stock futures held steady as earnings from the nation\u2019s biggest retailers kick off on Tuesday, putting the focus on American consumers while markets hover near record highs.<\/p>\n
Contracts for the S&P 500 were little changed. Europe\u2019s Stoxx 600 rose 0.6% as signs of progress toward a peace settlement for the war in Ukraine lifted sentiment. Intel Corp. advanced more than 6% in premarket trading, with the Trump administration said to be in talks to take a stake of about 10%.<\/p>\n
Listen to the Stock Movers podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.<\/p>\n
The dollar was little changed. Treasuries eked out gains after S&P Global Ratings affirmed its AA+ long-term rating for the US, with the 10-year rate at 4.34%.<\/p>\n
Investors are turning their attention to earnings from US consumer giants, with Home Depot Inc. reporting Tuesday, followed by Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. in the next few days, for clues on the impact of tariffs. In the latest salvo on levies, President Donald Trump has widened his steel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 consumer items that contain the metals, such as motorcycles and tableware.<\/p>\n
Markets will also turn their gaze on the Federal Reserve later this week, with Chair Jerome Powell set to unveil a new policy framework at the Jackson Hole gathering on achieving the central bank\u2019s inflation and employment goals.<\/p>\n
Money markets are currently betting the Fed will deliver its first rate cut for the year in September, as labor-market weakness outweighs inflation risks, with another move expected before year-end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith much of it priced in already, equities may need a new catalyst,\u201d said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. \u201cAugust through October is seasonally soft, and rising long-term bond yields could tempt investors to pocket recent gains.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oil slipped as traders weighed the outlook for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and a potential future supply increase of Russian crude. Brent fell below $66 a barrel, extending a decline for the month to around 9%.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if the US were to ease restrictions, Moscow would remain heavily reliant on buyers like India and China to absorb the majority of its crude exports,\u201d cautioned Ole Hvalbye, an analyst at SEB AB. \u201cAny unwind would likely be gradual and uneven.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Bloomberg Strategists Say\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have moved closer to a Ukraine peace deal in the past 24 hours \u2014 but only marginally so. And almost certainly not enough to offer any lasting support to European stocks which are running into technical resistance that capped gains earlier this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Conor Cooper, Macro Strategist. Click here for the full analysis.<\/p>\n
Corporate News:<\/p>\n
SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to buy $2 billion of Intel Corp. stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. BHP Group\u2019s full-year underlying profit fell by more than a quarter to its lowest level since the pandemic, broadly in line with market expectations, as prices of its key earners \u2014 iron ore and coking coal \u2014 came under pressure from softer Chinese demand. Nvidia Corp. is developing an AI chip specifically for China which will be more powerful than the H20 model, Reuters reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Shein Group Ltd. has considered moving its base back to China in the hopes that it would help sway Beijing authorities to sign off on the fast-fashion retailer\u2019s plans to go public in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple Inc. is expanding iPhone production in India at five factories, including a pair of recently opened plants, as it seeks to lessen its reliance on China for US-bound models. An increasing number of Mediobanca SpA shareholders are taking up Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA\u2019s hostile takeover offer, providing a tailwind ahead of the bid\u2019s end on Sept. 8. Tesla Inc. priced its updated, six-seat Model Y sport utility vehicle in the same range as local rival Li Auto Inc.\u2019s extended-range L8 model, to win over middle-class families in China\u2019s hyper-competitive market. Mercuries Life Insurance Co. is considering options including a sale of the business, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the main moves in markets:<\/p>\n
Stocks<\/p>\n
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% as of 10:34 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures were little changed Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed Currencies<\/p>\n
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1676 The Japanese yen was little changed at 147.77 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1846 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3514 Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n
Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $115,480.89 Ether fell 0.9% to $4,296.99 Bonds<\/p>\n
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.33% Germany\u2019s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.77% Britain\u2019s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.73% Commodities<\/p>\n
Brent crude fell 1.1% to $65.89 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.2% to $3,338.08 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was published on August 19, 2025 – 11:37 (Bloomberg) \u2014 US stock futures held steady as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[989,79,990,991,18,19,17,188,992,993],"class_list":{"0":"post-9097","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-bonds","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-general","11":"tag-currency-values","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-markets","16":"tag-stocks","17":"tag-ticker"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}