Dow dips 500 points amid weak jobs data, trade war jitters
U.S. stocks shed gains on Friday, with renewed trade war jitters and weak jobs data spooking investors and sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 500 points.
- Stocks fell as investors reacted to latest jobs data report.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 500 points, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped 1.2% and 1.5% respectively.
- Trade war fears also allowed bears to take advantage.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 500 points, while the S&P 500 shed 1.2% and the Nasdaq gave up 1.5%, extending losses from Thursday, July 31, 2025.
Wall Street showed signs of weakness as President Donald Trump’s deadline for countries to finalize trade deals with the U.S. approached, with broad market reaction pushing major indexes lower ahead of Friday’s release of the monthly jobs report.
The Dow closed in the red in the previous session, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped from near-record levels as Amazon’s (AMZN) earnings disappointed, driven by underperformance in its cloud unit, AWS. With Amazon failing to impress as Google and Microsoft did , AMZN shares plummeted.
As a result, Apple (AAPL) stock’s gains following the iPhone maker’s earnings beat failed to buoy the broader market.
Weak U.S. jobs data
Stocks were also down as the data showed the U.S. added just 73,000 jobs in July , below the expected 104,000. The lower-than-anticipated nonfarm payroll growth and a rise in the unemployment rate from 4.1% to 4.2% left investors concerned.
Market analysts say the weak jobs report could prompt action from the Federal Reserve. The central bank’s next meeting is in September, and investors are increasingly optimistic the Fed will announce a rate cut at that time.
Recent decisions, coupled with other economic data releases have buoyed the dollar index and contributed to the slowdown in risk assets. Bitcoin ( BTC ) was down 2% as it revisited levels below $115k.
Stocks retreat amid fresh tariffs jitters
Trump’s deadline for trade deals saw fresh uncertainty hit the market as the U.S. imposed tariffs on its top trading partners, including Canada and India.
An executive order signed Thursday imposed a 35% tariff on Canadian goods, while India faces a 25% rate as negotiations with the U.S. appear to have stalled. Meanwhile, Switzerland was hit with a 39% tariff , surprising the export-driven European nation.
However, trade war fears may be somewhat tempered by a seven-day delay in the effective date of the new levies. Markets view the delay as an opportunity for further negotiations.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
How much CPO demand will Nvidia Rubin Ultra generate? Bernstein: Optical value per Pod will increase fivefold
Bernstein believes that the co-packaged optics (CPO) and fiber demand driven by Nvidia's Rubin Ultra architecture will surge significantly, with the optical content per Pod rising from $1 million to $5.4 million. This will propel the size of Nvidia's optical ecosystem market to $46.8 billion by 2028 (a 91% annual increase). Although the industry faces supply bottlenecks with InP substrates, the outlook remains positive. The institution reiterates its “outperform” rating for Lumentum, Coherent, and Ciena.
UBS Q3 implements a two-way strategy with gold options, heavily invests in technology stocks, and builds positions in SK Hynix (SKHY.US)
UBS Group (UBS.US) has submitted its Q3 holdings report (13F) as of September 30, 2026.
SpaceX (SPCX.US) reportedly attempts “de-Nvidiaization” at the rack level: developing Kessel cabinets to bypass L6 compute boards, purchasing only chips
SemiAnalysis: SpaceX has developed its own Kessel cabinet, bypassing Nvidia's L6 cards to provide more options for manufacturing its own hardware.
$3.7 billion “data center power equipment prepayments” abandoned! What did "the most active buyer of gas turbines", SoftBank, see?
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, SoftBank reported a net loss of $7.1 billion, primarily due to a $3.7 billion impairment charge from a $9.5 billion advance payment for power generation equipment for US data centers—of which about $2.9 billion was non-refundable and effectively lost. The CFO admitted that SoftBank placed orders before the project plan was finalized, and is now conducting a comprehensive review of its procurement strategy. "The most aggressive purchaser of gas turbines has now written off the deposit in this way."
Crypto prices
More
