Market snapshot: more tariff threats and important company results
US investors sold up late last week as the US president threatened more trade taxes, and now others are getting their opportunity to respond. ii's head of markets has the latest from the UK and overseas.
14th July 2025 08:21
by Richard Hunter from interactive investor

Trump’s tariff threats show no signs of abating, with some more out of hours developments already weighing on Dow futures ahead of today’s open.
Inadvertently, or otherwise, the President is testing the market’s patience. At a time when investors had seemingly brushed aside the likelihood of the base line of tariffs settling at 10%, the new pronouncements suggest a level of between 15% and 20% being the norm, with additionally punitive numbers on the likes of Canada at 35% adding to the uncertainty.
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The so-called “TACO” trade will therefore be tested again, with markets drifting in the US on Friday and futures currently suggesting a similar fall today. In addition, and as the new 1 August extension approaches, nerves are likely to jangle. In the meantime, the main indices remain close to record highs, with gains in the year to date of 4.3%, 6.4% and 6.6% for the Dow Jones, S&P500 and Nasdaq respectively.
The week also heralds the onset of the latest earnings season in earnest, with banks in particular focus. The likes of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) will report, with the health of the consumer and the current attitude to dealmaking at the top of investors’ agendas.
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) will also provide an update later in the week, coming against high expectations which have resulted in a 39% rise in the share price so far this year, and a spike of 87% over the last 12 months.
More broadly, there is an expectation for growth of almost 5% in earnings over the last quarter, with emphasis also on the outlook and guidance comments which were largely missing last time around as corporates declined to gauge the immediate effect of tariffs on their businesses. Equally it should become more apparent whether any enforced price increases have been passed on to customers, which would confirm the inflationary effects of the tariffs which some had feared and which have prevented the Federal Reserve thus far from making any premature further interest rate cuts.
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Asian markets were mixed to lower, also apparently showing limited reaction to the latest weekend tariff developments. Indeed, China reported a trade surplus of almost $27 billion with the US in June, a rise of 48% which defied the particular attention which has been passed its way from the White House, although there are likely more hurdles to come.
In the UK, the earnings season also slowly gets into gear, with updates from the likes of Barratt Redrow (LSE:BTRW), easyJet (LSE:EZJ) and Burberry Group (LSE:BRBY). The first two updates will provide an interesting comparison with numbers from Vistry Group (LSE:VTY) and Jet2 Ordinary Shares (LSE:JET2) last week, with the latter failing to avoid the trapdoor of giving uncertain guidance and visibility of earnings ahead of the key summer season, a mistake which easyJet is likely to avoid.
Meanwhile, the “Burberry Forward” strategy will be under the spotlight in what has been a promising start to the new regime, propelling the shares higher by 24% so far this year, although work remains to be done given the 40% decline over the last two years.
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The FTSE100 hovered around the flatline at the open, although the most recent record high remains within touching distance. The resilience and attraction of the premier index has become an increasing focus over the course of the last few months as investors seek more stable investment environments, and the FTSE100 has added 9.5% so far this year amid the volatility seen at many other global exchanges.
The latest gold price advance gave some support to Fresnillo (LSE:FRES), while the defiant economic news from China underpinned gains for Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN) and Prudential (LSE:PRU), in part offset by some further weakness in WPP (LSE:WPP), which is struggling to escape the doom loop which has wiped 50% off its share price this year alone.
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