Early Look

Monday, July 28, 2025

S&P futures (Spuz) are higher by +0.20% at 6,437 (off overnight highs 6,457.75), looking to extend its winning streak to 6-straight days of record highs, getting as boost after the U.S. struck a trade agreement with the European Union Sunday night, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods – half the prior amount – and averting a bigger trade war between the two allies. U.S. President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal after an hour-long meeting. Trump noted the EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the United States and dramatically increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. In all, the US will get 10x more in tariff revenue from the EU and $600B more in direct investment. The deal comes ahead of this Friday’s global trade deadline with the US and trading partners. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index declined -457 points to 40,998, the Shanghai Index rose 4 points to 3,597, and the Hang Seng Index gained 173 points to 25,562. In Europe, the German DAX is up 80 points to 24,298, while the FTSE 100 rises 8 points to 9,128. The dollar strengthens for a third straight session. A relatively quiet morning of earnings before the floodgates open this week, including results from three of the Mag 7 stocks this week including AAPL, MSFT and META. A good start early though given the trade news. Markets look to add to last week’s gains after the S&P 500 gained 1.46%, the Nasdaq climbed 1.02%, and the Dow rose 1.26%. In corporate news on Monday, Samsung Electronics will produce AI chips for Tesla in a new $16.5 billion pact that marks a win for its underperforming foundry division. Stock markets prepare for the busiest week for earnings reports, an interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve, the U.S. jobs report for July, and Trump’s Aug. 1 tariffs deadline.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 208.01 points, or 0.47%, to 44,901.92
• The Nasdaq Composite gained 50.36 points, or 0.24%, to 21,108.32
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 8.94 points, or 0.40% to 2,261.07

• 1:00 PM ET U.S. Treasury to sell $69B in 2-year notes
• 1:00 PM ET U.S. Treasury to sell $70B in 5-year notes

• Earnings After the Close: ABCB AMKR BRO BRX BYON CDNS CINF CLS CNO CR EFSC EKSO EXEL FSUN HIG HLIT KFRC KRC NBTB NOV NTB OLN PCH PDM PFG RMBS RNGR SANM SSD TFII TLRY TWO UCTT UFPI UHS VLTO WELL WHR WM WU WWD

• China rolled out on Monday an annual childcare subsidy of 3,600 yuan ($502) until age three, as authorities look to spur a flagging birth rate with fewer young people choosing to have children.
• US and Chinese officials are meeting in Stockholm Monday to extend their tariff detente beyond a mid-August deadline and discuss other ways to defuse trade tensions. South Korea is pitching the US on a shipbuilding partnership as a key proposal to seal a last-minute deal.

• Cheniere Energy (LNG) and Venture Global (VG) among LNG stocks rising after the EU committed to big purchases of American energy products as part of the trade deal
• Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Raytheon (RTX) are among defense stocks higher after the EU agreed to buy large quantities of military equipment under the trade agreement.
• China exported 9.678 million tons of steel in June, down 8.5% from May. China’s average steel export price in June at $687.1/ton, down 1.6% from May, industry body says.

• GSK (GSK) announced it has entered into agreements with Hengrui Pharma to develop up to 12 medicines, adding significant new growth opportunities to the company beyond 2031.
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) New Wegovy prescriptions have increased by about 33% since May 22, when a U.S. FDA ban on so-called compounded versions of Wegovy took effect, amounting to 181,200 in the week ended July 18, according to data from IQVIA that was shared with Reuters by industry analysts.
• Zymeworks (ZYME) announced the U.S. FDA has cleared the investigational new drug application for ZW251, a novel glypican-3-targeted ADC incorporating the company’s proprietary topoisomerase 1 inhibitor payload, ZD06519, for the treatment of HCC.

• Cisco (CSCO) downgraded to In Line from Outperform at Evercore ISI noting the stock has performed well recently with a +46% move over the last twelve months vs +17% for the S&P.
• Texas Instruments (TXN) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research.
• The European Commission on Monday said Chinese online marketplace Temu (owned by PDD) was breaking EU rules by not doing enough to prevent the sale of illegal products through its platform. The EU’s findings could ultimately lead to a fine of up to 6% of Temu’s annual global turnover, the Commission said