US stocks drift as Trump’s latest tariff threat offsets good news on the economy
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting lower Thursday, even after getting a double-shot of encouraging news on the economy. President Donald Trump keeps upping the stakes in his trade war, with his most recent threat to tax European wines and spirits.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% lower in early trading, coming off a dizzying stretch where it set a record and then briefly tumbled as much as 10% from the mark within just a few weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 39 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.
Stocks have been turbulent because of questions about how much pain Trump will let the economy endure through tariffs and other policies in order to reshape the country and world as he wants. He’s said he wants manufacturing jobs back in the United States, along with a smaller U.S. government workforce and other fundamental changes.
U.S. households and businesses have already reported drops in confidence because of all the uncertainty about which tariffs will stick from Trump’s barrage of on -again, off -again announcements. That’s raised fears that they could pull back on their spending and sap energy from the economy. Some U.S. businesses say they’ve already begun seeing a change in behavior among their customers.
A particularly feared scenario for the overall economy is one where its growth stagnates but inflation stays high because of tariffs. Few tools are available in Washington to fix such “stagflation.”
But good news came on both economic fronts Thursday.
One report showed inflation at the wholesale level last month was milder than economists expected. It followed a similarly encouraging report from the prior day on the inflation that U.S. consumers are feeling.
A separate report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. It’s the latest signal that the job market remains relatively solid overall. If it can continue, that can allow U.S. consumers to keep spending, and that’s the main engine of the economy.
On Wall Steet, Intel jumped 16.7% for one of the market’s bigger gains after naming former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO. Tan, 65, will take over the daunting job next week, more than three months after Intel’s previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, abruptly retired amid a deepening downturn at the once-dominant chipmaker.
In the bond market, Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.34% from 4.32%.
In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia, but the moves were relatively modest.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
By STAN CHOE
AP Business Writer
