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US markets end lower on Friday
Jul-12-2025

The US markets ended lower on Friday amid renewed concerns about President Donald Trump's escalating trade battles. Trump announced a 35 percent tariff on Canadian imports effective August 1. Trump said the tariffs were partly due to Canada's failure to stop fentanyl from pouring into the U.S. and threatened to raise tariffs further if Canada retaliates. Moreover, the president indicated he soon plans to send letters to member of the European Union notifying them of new tariff rates. Overall trading activity appeared somewhat subdued as a lack of major U.S. economic data may have kept some traders on the sidelines.

Traders were also looking ahead to the start of earnings season, with a number of big name companies due to report their quarterly results next week. On the sectoral front, airline stocks pulled back sharply after soaring in the previous session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.7 percent. The index ended Thursday's trading at a four-month closing high. Considerable weakness was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Networking, housing and pharmaceutical stocks also saw notable weakness, while gold stocks showed a strong move to the upside along with the price of the precious metal.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 279.13 points or 0.63 percent to 44,371.51, Nasdaq dropped 45.14 points or 0.22 percent to 20,585.53 and S&P 500 declined 20.71 points or 0.33 percent to 6,259.75. 


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