US stocks mostly decline, pull S&P 500 back from its record

U S stocks are mostly lower in afternoon trading Friday pulling the area back from all-time highs as the Trump administration escalates its tariff threats against Canada The S P was down a day after setting a record high The benchmark index is on pace to post its first weekly loss in three weeks The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell points or as of p m Eastern time and the Nasdaq composite edged up after drifting lower in the early going The tech-heavy index climbed to an all-time high on Thursday The Dow and Nasdaq are also within striking distance of finishing with a weekly loss Bond yields rose The yield on the -year Treasury rose to from late Thursday Trump reported in a letter Thursday that he will raise taxes on plenty of imported goods from Canada to deepening the rift between the longtime North American allies The letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is an aggressive increase to the top tariff rates that Trump first imposed in March The move is the latest bid by the White House to use threats of higher tariffs on goods imported into the U S in hopes of securing new pact agreements with countries around the globe even historically close trading partners like Canada The administration had initially set Wednesday as a deadline for countries to make deals with the U S or face heavy increases in tariffs But with just two arrangement deals disclosed since April one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam the window for negotiations has been now been extended to Aug Trump also floated this week that he would impose tariffs of as much as on pharmaceutical drugs and place a tariff on copper imports matching the rates charged on steel and aluminum The initial rollout of Trump s tariff policies in the spring roiled financial markets But Wall Street has been relatively stable in newest weeks with stocks steadily rising to record levels That suggests the territory has mostly adjusted to the unpredictability of Trump s rapidly shifting tariffs Specific arena watchers however aren t so sure The field s response to Trump s tariff escalation this week has been surprisingly muted Markets appear to believe that Trump will again back down Paul Ashworth chief North America economist at Capital Economics wrote Friday We are not so sure Deal strategy aside the territory is now set to shift at least specific of its focus on companies due to statement quarterly earnings over the next inadequate weeks On Friday Levi Strauss jumped after the jeans maker easily beat Wall Street s sales and profit targets and raised its full-year forecast despite expecting higher costs from tariffs PriceSmart climbed a day after the warehouse club operator delivered solid third-quarter results and mentioned it s looking into expanding into Chile Earnings season shifts into high gear next week with JPMorgan Chase Wells Fargo and Citigroup among the big banks due to overview their results on Tuesday Wall Street analysts predict that companies in the S P will deliver increase in second-quarter earnings according to FactSet That would mark the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of Shares in financial and soundness care sector companies were the biggest weights on the arena Friday Visa fell and Gilead Sciences dropped Certain Big Tech stocks rose Chipmaker Nvidia was up Several airline stocks were down a day after encouraging quarterly results from Delta Air Lines set off a rally in the sector Delta dropped United fell and American was lower Elsewhere in the arena shares of T-Mobile slipped after the Justice Department reported Thursday that it would not prevent the company from closing on its proposed billion acquisition of U S Cellular That deal communicated more than a year ago had come under antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department under President Joe Biden s administration U S Cellular shares rose Shares in aviation company Red Cat Holdings jumped after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued orders aimed at ramping up production and deployment of drones European stock indexes were broadly lower following a mostly lower finish in Asian markets Meanwhile bitcoin climbed to another all-time high Friday briefly eclipsing before easing back to around according to Coindesk Bitcoin s price jump came amid bullish momentum across jeopardy assets and coincides with Nvidia s surge to a trillion valuation It also comes days before the U S Congress Crypto Week on July where lawmakers will debate a series of bills that could define the regulatory framework for the industry