Tariffs once again took center stage last week. Several countries received tariff letters from Washington outlining their new payment obligations moving forward. Canada was hit with a 35 percent tariff while South Africa was hit with a 30 percent tariff. Donald Trump has said that tariffs will go into effect on the first day of August, but it’s possible that further delays could occur.
Fiscal policy was another key story as the Fed released the minutes of its June meeting. It revealed a consensus that interest rates should be lowered in the future, but there is a divide when it comes to timing and scope. While some believe that the time is now to start doing so, others believe that it’s best to see what happens with the impact of tariffs over the coming months.
Inflation data for June will be released week, and it’s expected that prices increased by .3 percent over the past month. The annual inflation rate is expected to have ticked up from 2.4 percent to 2.6 percent in June. It’s likely that the final figure is going to weigh heavily on the Fed’s rate decision.
In addition to the release of the FOMC meeting minutes, unemployment claim data was made public on Thursday. That morning, it was revealed that 227,000 people sought benefits over the past seven days. Analysts had projected that 236,000 requests had been made. Last week, 232,000 new claims were made across the country.
The S&P 500 was relatively flat this week, closing up 1.65 points to finish at 6,259. This was a .03 percent increase for a market that is up 6.43 percent year-to-date. On Monday afternoon, the market made its weekly low dipping to 6,208 before reversing and largely gaining ground. On Thursday afternoon, the market reached its weekly high of 6,289.
Like the S&P 500, the Dow was also relatively flat for the week finishing down .87 percent to close at 44,371. Despite the weekly loss, the index is still up more than 4 percent for the year. The Dow followed the same pattern as the S&P this week making its low of the week on Monday afternoon and its weekly high on Thursday. For the last five days, the index ranged from 44,173 to 44,761.
Finally, the Nasdaq was also flat for the week having closed at 20,585 on Friday. This represented a gain of .52 percent for the last five trading days for the index that is up 6.6 percent through the first six months of 2025. On Monday afternoon, the market made a low of 20,333 before reversing and engaging in sideways movement through Friday.
In international news, Australia decided to keep its interest rate steady at 3.85 percent despite a cut being priced in before the news. The Royal Bank of Australia (RBA) said that it needed more time and guidance regarding inflation before making any additional cuts. New Zealand also held its key rate steady at 3.25 percent on Tuesday night. On Friday, Canada announced that its economy added 83,000 new jobs and that its unemployment rate dipped to 6.9 percent.
In the United States, the Price Producers Index (PPI) comes out on Wednesday while retail sales and unemployment figures will be released on Thursday. Great Britain and Canada are also expected to release inflation numbers this week.