Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Slipping into the weekend
2. New Trump tariff threat
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, at right, speaks to U.S. President Donald Trump as they meet during the Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
Trump on Thursday threatened 35% tariffs on goods from Canada, effective Aug. 1. The president complained in a letter posted to Truth Social that Ottawa had retaliated with duties against Washington and said that Canada needs to do more to combat Fentanyl. “If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote in the letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Meanwhile, Trump also threatened blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on a large swath of the world. “We’re just going to say all of the remaining countries are going to pay, whether it’s 20% or 15%. We’ll work that out now,” Trump told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. The United States’ current tariff rate on nearly all countries is 10%. “I think the tariffs have been very well-received. The stock market hit a new high today,” Trump told Welker on Thursday.
3. Good jeans
A man wears Levis Strauss & Co. clothing during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, March 21, 2019.
Jeenah Moon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Levi Strauss raised its full-year financial outlook on Thursday, saying it is working to absorb the impact of Trump’s tariffs. The jeans giant’s forecast assumes a 30% tariff on China — the source of around 1% of its products — and 10% duty on the rest of the world. “We are absorbing some of the costs. What helps is that our business is so strong,” said CEO Michelle Gass. “We have been pulling back on promotions anyway, that’s leading to more full-price selling, and some of our new innovation, our new fits, we’re pricing at a premium, and they’re buying. So all of those things help us navigate this time of having the tariff headwind.”
4. Devin’s in the details
The Goldman Sachs company logo is displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange during afternoon trading on Aug. 2, 2024.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Goldman Sachs is taking an autonomous software engineer for a test drive. The program, which is called Devin, is made by AI-startup Cognition and is set to join 12,000 human developers at the bank, Goldman tech chief Marco Argenti told CNBC. Cognition said last year that it had created the first AI software engineer, with videos showing Devin completing multi-step assignments. “Initially, we will have hundreds of Devins [and] that might go into the thousands, depending on the use cases,” Argenti said.
5. White House-Fed tension
Construction on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Trump’s budget chief, Russell Vought, said Thursday that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “has grossly mismanaged the Fed.” The Office of Management and Budget director suggested in a letter posted on X that Powell misled Congress about “ostentatious” renovations of the central bank’s headquarters. Trump has repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — urged Powell to cut interest rates and reportedly considered firing him.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han, Sean Conlon, Dan Mangan, Tanaya Macheel, Anniek Bao, Vinay Dwivedi, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Hugh Son and Amelia Lucas, as well as NBC News, contributed to this report.
