Much like all the upheaval shaking the world, the huge swings rocking Wall Street may feel far from normal. Sharp moves for the U.S. stock market, like its recent 6% drop in just a couple of weeks, happen regularly. Stomaching them is the price investors have to pay for the bigger returns that stocks can offer over other investments in the long term.
A tectonic shift in German fiscal policy has compounded uncertainty for traders trying to bet on how fast the European Central Bank will cut rates for the rest of the year, with a change to the bank's guidance on Thursday reinforcing that. The ECB cut rates by 25 basis points to 2.50% in its sixth move since last June. That supported traders, who had already reduced bets on ECB rate cuts after a deal from Germany's next coalition partners on Tuesday to create a 500 billion euro ($541.40 billion) infrastructure fund and overhaul borrowing restrictions, partly to boost defence spending.
Just one day before President Donald Trump is set to unveil his crypto reserve plan at the White House Crypto Summit, his crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, has begun piling up significant amounts of Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Wrapped Bitcoin, and other digital assets.
Shares of power chips maker Allegro Microsystems jumped Thursday in intraday trading after it rejected the latest bid by its larger rival ON Semiconductor, also known as Onsemi, describing the offer as "inadequate."
U.S. equities dipped at midday as confusion over the new tariffs by President Donald Trump led to market uncertainty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were down.