U.S. and World Markets Hover Near Record Highs Amid a Growing List of Worries

Barry Adams
18 Aug, 2025
New York City

Wall Street indexes showed little movement on Monday after rising in the previous two consecutive weeks. 

The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 0.1%, but they hovered near record highs amid earnings optimism and receding worries about tariff-linked inflation. 

Last week, two inflation reports showed that importers, wholesalers, and retailers are still not passing over higher import duties to consumers, but that could change in the months ahead.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection processed $307 billion in imports, identified $30.4 billion in duties, and collected $140.8 billion between January and July. 

In July, the Department of Treasury collected $29.6 billion in "customs and excise taxes," compared to $8.9 billion the same month a year ago. 

In 2024, customs and excise revenue totaled $98 billion, according to the data available from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

While $29 billion is a huge increase compared to a year ago, it pales compared to $725 billion in retail and food services sales in July. 

In the week ahead, U.S. investors will review comments from the Fed Chair, Powell, at a gathering of central bankers.

Moreover, building permits, housing starts, completions, and existing home sales data are set to be released this week.

On the earnings front, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, TJX Companies, Analog Devices, and Salesforce are scheduled to release their earnings.

Crude oil prices traded around $63 a barrel, and gold edged up 0.2% to $3,342.25 an ounce amid ongoing uncertainty linked to the U.S.-China trade negotiations. 

Moreover, the much ballyhooed Trump-Russia summit in Alaska failed to deliver an agreement, despite the U.S. president claiming more than fifty times that he can end the war in Europe in a day.

Global investors are increasingly worried about the reliability of the U.S. economic data and the unpredictable and erratic Trump administration's interference in global trade and the domestic economy.

Despite better-than-expected quarterly results, global investors are worried that the U.S. financial markets are likely to behave more like emerging markets, where the government actions dominate normal business operations. 

Donald Trump has persistently pressured Fed Chair Powell to lower interest rates, demanded Intel fire its chief executive, asked Goldman Sachs to replace its chief economist, and taken a cut from the sale of advanced chips to China. 

In addition, Trump fired the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, undermining the credibility of the U.S. economic data.

Farmers in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee are feeling the burden of the stalled trade negotiations between the U.S. and China and DOGE's killing of the U.S. AID program.

Soybean and corn prices are hovering 50% below the peak prices in April 2022, as China looks to Brazil and Argentina for agriculture imports. 

Nebraska and Iowa tied for the real GDP decline of 6.1% in the first quarter of 2025, according to a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Trump administration's constant threats and erratic trade policy have forced China to ramp up its import of wheat, soybeans, and corn starting as early as September.

Wall Street indexes showed little movement on Monday after rising in the previous two consecutive weeks. 

 

U.S. Stock Movers 

Tesla Inc. decreased 0.6% to $328.70 after the U.K.-based The Times reported that the electric vehicle maker has been forced to offer up to a 40% discount to car leasing companies. 

Chief executive Elon Musk has warned that the company's sales could face a few "rough quarters" amid a declining trend in sales in Europe.