US stocks end lower after strong start as rally fades

NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks finished lower on July 31, shrugging off strong gains by Microsoft and Meta as traders await key US employment data and a White House tariff deadline.

Facebook parent Meta surged 11.3 per cent and Microsoft jumped 4 per cent after both companies reported strong quarterly results that underscored their strength in artificial intelligence. Microsoft’s valuation topped US$4 trillion (S$5.2 trillion) for part of the day before retreating.

But major indices were unable to hold on to early gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing down 0.7 per cent at 44,130.98.

The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.4 per cent to 6,339.39, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 21,122.49.

Some of the caution was due to a squaring of trading positions ahead of Aug 1 jobs data, which could lead to market volatility, said Mr Steve Sosnick of Interactive Brokers, adding that Amazon and Apple earnings later on July 31 could also spur heavy trading.

Markets are also looking ahead to President Donald Trump’s Aug 1 deadline, with Canada among the countries that has

yet to reach an accord

with the United States.

Mr Trump said on July 31 he would

hold off a planned tariff hike

on Mexican products and instead keep duties at existing levels for 90 days after speaking with his counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum.

After initially greeting trade deals, investors are also reevaluating Mr Trump’s trade agreements, most recently with South Korea, the latest to set

a 15 per cent tariff

on goods.

“I think the market has kind of come to grips with the idea that 15 per cent is the new standard but maybe there’s a little bit of a realisation that 15 per cent tariffs are not actually all that market friendly,” Mr Sosnick said.

Health was the weakest sector in the S&P 500, with pharmaceutical companies selling off after Mr Trump threatened using “every tool in our arsenal”

if the sector doesn’t lower prices.

Pfizer, Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb all dropped more than 2 per cent.

Shares of online design platform Figma more than tripled to US$115.50 in its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange after its initial public offering was priced at US$33. AFP