After a celebratory June, which saw the S&P 500 reach record highs, July is off to a gloomy start. The threat of tariffs looms once again for investors, as President Trump insists he will stand by a new negotiation deadline of Aug. 1 for the bruising campaign of levies that he announced in April.
Stocks continued their downward dip from Monday, with the S&P 500 falling 0.07%, driven by modest drops in blue-chip companies like Amazon and Microsoft. And lest wary onlookers hope for another delay, Trump posted on Truth Social that Aug. 1 would be the final opportunity for U.S. trade partners to come to the table, after previously stating the deadline was not “100% firm.”
“No extensions will be granted,” he wrote on his social-media platform. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump’s second term in office has been an economic rollercoaster, with stocks falling dramatically after his Liberation Day tariff announcement in April before recovering after he backed off from the steep demands. But even as markets ticked back up, the original extension of July 9 remained as a ticking time bomb. And while Trump signed an executive order on Monday to push the deadline once again to Aug. 1, it wasn’t enough to calm investors.
The imminent reciprocal tariffs are not the only expected economic policy from the White House this week, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling CNBC on Monday that it was going to be a “busy couple of days.” On Tuesday, Trump announced a new 50% tariff on copper, though he did not set a date that it would go into effect. To date, the White House has only hammered out deals with Britain and Vietnam, and an expected deal with India remains uncertain.
While markets remain jumpy, Trump continues to put pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that Powell should “resign immediately,” once again criticizing the central banker’s decision not to lower interest rates. Powell, however, has cited the potential impact of tariffs on inflation as a reason the Fed has kept rates steady.
Despite the volatility, stocks have not fallen as sharply as they did in April when Trump first announced his tariffs campaign, sending markets into a downward spiral. And while his Tuesday post on Truth Social insisted that Aug. 1 would be the last chance for countries to negotiate, he has repeatedly moved the goalposts in the past.
One bright spot amid Tuesday’s sea of red was Tesla, which rose 1.33% on Tuesday despite CEO Elon Musk’s public spat with Trump. In a new note on Tuesday morning, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote that Tesla has reached a “tipping point,” calling for the board to end the “soap opera.” One of his recommendations was for Musk to reduce his work, including his recent campaign to create a new political party.
After Ives posted his demands to X, Musk issued a brief reply: “Shut up, Dan.”
