Early Look

Friday, July 11, 2025

U.S. futures are looking lower overnight, slipping after President Trump announced he would impose a 35% tariff on Canadian imports next month (up from the current 25% rate) and planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trading partners. Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would go into effect on August 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated. He said the European Union would soon receive a formal letter later in the day, as the bloc scrambles to strike a deal with Washington. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq, which both closed at record highs on Thursday, are on track to end the week little changed if this pullback holds, while the Dow looks set to snap its three-week winning streak – the longest since January. The S&P 500 closed at new all-time high of 6,280, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average narrows gap to its December peak in another stunning day of gains Thursday. Risk asset rally in full display with Bitcoin scaling new highs overnight above $118,000 after breaking a new high intraday yesterday above $113,000. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index fell -76 points to 39,569, the Shanghai Index was unchanged at 3,510, and the Hang Seng Index rose 111 points to 24,139. In Europe, the German DAX is down -263 points to 24,193, while the FTSE 100 slides -54 points to 8,921. In stock news, shares in drone-related firms rallied in premarket trading after Fox News reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to ramp up production and deployment of drones; LEVI shares rally on earnings and PFGC rises on media reports of potential M&A with USFD.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 192.34 points, or 0.43%, to 44,650.64
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 19.33 points, or 0.09%, to 20,630.67
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 10.92 points, or 0.48% to 2,263.41

• 1:00 PM ET                   Baker Hughes Weekly rig count data

• Levi Strauss (LEVI) Q2 adj EPS $0.22 topped the $0.13 consensus on sales $1.45B vs. est. $1.37B; Q2 revenue in its direct-to-consumer segment increased 11% on a reported basis after rising 8% a year ago; raises FY25 adjusted EPS view to $1.25-$1.30 from $1.20-$1.25 and boosts its FY25 revenue growth view to 1%-2% from (2%)-(1%); lowers its full-year gross margin expansion of 80 bps, vs. prior view 100bps.
• Nissan Motor (NSANY) is in discussions to supply cars to Honda Motor (HMC) in the United States, weighing the possibility of using its underutilized U.S. plant, Nikkei reported on Friday without citing sources.
• Performance Food (PFGC) has attracted takeover interest from US Foods Holding Corp. (USFD), a potential deal that would create a food distribution company with combined sales of roughly $100B, people familiar with the matter said according to a Bloomberg report. https://tinyurl.com/5ctc2ny4
• PriceSmart (PSMT) Q3 EPS $1.14 vs. $1.08 y/y on revs rising 7.1% y/y to $1.32B vs. $1.23B y/y; Q3 merchandise sales rose 8% y/y to $1.29B; said evaluating Chile as a potential new market for multiple PriceSmart Warehouse Clubs.

• Diamondback Energy (FANG) said in Q2, expects $37 mln cash loss, $160 mln non-cash loss; Q2 average unhedged realized prices $63.23 per barrel of oil, $0.88 per mcf of natural gas, $18.13 per barrel of NGLS; Q2 average realized hedged prices were $62.34/barrel of oil $1.45/mcf of natural gas & $18.13/barrel of NGLS
• Drone makers may be active (AVA, ACHR, UAVS, ONDS, RCAT) after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth eliminates regulations that restricted U.S. drone manufacturing and reveals a significant increase in domestically produced drones for the military.
• Ryder Systems (R) raised its quarterly dividend by 12% to $0.91 from $0.81.
• WF-40 (WDFC) Q3 EPS $1.54 vs $1.46 y/y and revs +1% y/y to $156.9M; Q3 Gross margin was 56.2 percent compared to 53.1 percent in the prior year fiscal quarter; raises FY25 EPS view to $5.30-$5.60 from $5.25-$5.55 (est. $5.52) and narrows FY25 revenue view to $600M-$620M from $600M-$620M

• Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc. (APAM) preliminary assets under management (“AUM”) as of June 30, 2025 totaled $175.5 billion. Artisan Funds and Artisan Global Funds accounted for $85.6 billion of total firm AUM, while separate accounts and other AUM accounted for $89.9 billion.
• Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) preliminary month-end assets under management (AUM) of $2,001.4B, an increase of 3.0% versus previous month-end. The firm delivered net long-term inflows of $8.3B in the month. Non-management fee earning net outflows were $1.5B and money market net outflows were $10.6B.
• Lazard Inc. (LAZ) preliminary assets under management (“AUM”) as of June 30, 2025 totaled approximately $248.4 billion. The month’s AUM included market appreciation of $5.4 billion, net inflows of $4.6 billion, and FX appreciation of $3.1 billion. Preliminary average AUM for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 was $238.6 billion.
• Victory Capital Holdings (VCTR) reported Total Assets Under Management of $298.6B, Other Assets of $3.1B, and Total Client Assets of $301.6B, as of June 30, 2025.

• Pfizer (PFE) and its German partner BioNTech (BNTX) asked London’s Court of Appeal on Thursday to overturn a ruling that their COVID-19 vaccine infringed one of Moderna’s (MRNA) patents, in the latest round of a long-running legal dispute between the two sides.