Trade Secrets

WTF Dailies July 23, 2025

US stock futures edged up as President Trump announced a trade deal with Japan and Wall Street readied for Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) earnings.

Sage Kakkat

22 Jul 2025 — 6 min read

US stock futures edged up as President Trump announced a trade deal with Japan and Wall Street readied for Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) earnings.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday evening, “We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made." The president said that the agreement includes a 15% tariff on imported goods from Japan.
On Tuesday, stocks closed mixed, with the S&P 500 closing just above the flatline to notch a record high. Tariffs loomed large throughout the day. GM (GM) reported sinking profits due to new levies, and President Trump announced trade deals with the Philippines and Indonesia.
Most Asian stocks rose on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallying to a one-year high after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the country, which will entail lower trade tariffs.
But broader gains in regional markets were somewhat quashed by weakness in technology shares, which fell tracking overnight losses in their U.S. peers, especially chipmakers.
The Nikkei 225 index and TOPIX indexes traded about 2.7% higher by 22:08 ET (02:08 GMT), after initially advancing over 3%. Both indexes reached their strongest level since July 2024.
Trump said in a social media post that his administration had signed a “massive” trade deal with Japan, setting U.S. tariffs on the country at 15%, which is lower than the 25% threatened earlier. Trump also said that Japan will invest $550 billion in the U.S., and will open its markets to more U.S. automobiles and agricultural products.
A host of reports also showed that Trump will lower his automobile tariffs to 15% for 25% for Japanese firms, but will maintain his steel and aluminum tariffs at 50%.
The U.S. trade deal brings some much-needed clarity for Japanese exporters, although the 15% tariff is still expected to present some headwinds for external demand. Still, news of the trade deal helped investors look past heightened political uncertainty in Japan, after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s party suffered a bruising defeat in recent upper house elections.
Broader Asian stocks mostly advanced on Wednesday, as optimism over the Japan agreements spurred bets that more countries will sign deals with Washington before an August 1 deadline.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.2%, lagging its peers. Singapore’s Straits Times index also traded sideways after recently racing to record highs.
Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.6%, recovering from sharp losses earlier this week and coming back in sight of a record high.
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rose 0.2% each, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6%.
Gift Nifty 50 Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index rose 0.1%, pointing to a positive open for the index. Markets were also holding out for a U.S.-India trade deal, although recent reports said it may not materialize before August 1.

Market Close

Equity markets closed higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 reaching a record high, as trade remained in focus. Under terms of the announced U.S.-Japan trade deal, imports from Japan will reportedly face tariffs of 15%, down from the 25% levy set to go into effect on August 1.The agreement also includes about $550 billion of investment by Japan in the U.S. Health care and industrial stocks posted the largest gains, while the utility and consumer staples sectors lagged. In international markets, Asia finished higher overnight, led by Japan's Nikkei index, which reached a new all-time high. The U.S. dollar declined against major international currencies. In commodity markets, WTI oil traded higher following its pullback in recent days.
Bond yields edged higher, with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.38%, though the benchmark yield has generally remained rangebound below its May peak near 4.60%. Bond markets are pricing in expectations for two cuts to the fed funds rate this year and another three cuts next year, a faster pace than the Federal Reserve's projection of three rate cuts over this timeframe.
Google beat Wall Street's second-quarter earnings expectations and doubled down on its AI spending spree. Its stock rose in after-hours trading.
Tesla, meanwhile, missed on earnings. Warnings from CEO Elon Musk and CFO Vaibhav Taneja about the projected impacts from President Trump's tax and spending package sent its stock tumbling.
In other corporate results, Chipotle (CMG) saw its stock plunge after reporting its second straight sales decline. Though IBM (IBM) beat Wall Street expectations on profit, its software sales disappointed, resulting in its stock falling too.
In Washington D.C. on Wednesday evening, Trump said at an AI summit that US trading partners will see tariff rates ranging from 15% to 50%. Previously, the president had suggested that tariff rates would settle lower, around 10% to 15%. His comments come amid reports the US and European Union are nearing a trade deal ahead of his Aug. 1 deadline.

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