Evening Market Recap  

Sophia Reyes · August 7, 2025 7:21 PM

Market Snapshot for Thursday August 7^th, 2025

S&P 500 – 6,340.00 (-0.080%)

NASDAQ – 21,242.70 (+0.35%)

Dow Jones – 43,968.64 (-0.51%)

Market Performance

Stocks End Mixed as Tariffs Bite, Fed Nomination Lifts Sentiment

U.S. stocks pared earlier losses Thursday, closing mixed after President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on nearly 200 U.S. trade partners and hinted at targeted chip tariffs that could offer relief to Big Tech.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained almost 0.4% to notch a new record close, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) finished flat, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) slipped 0.5%.

Markets steadied after Trump nominated Stephen Miran, current chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, to fill a Federal Reserve Board seat through January 2026, following Adriana Kugler’s resignation.

The new tariffs — effective as of 12:01 a.m. ET Thursday — range from 10% to 50% on imports from almost 200 countries. The Yale Budget Lab estimates the average effective tariff rate will jump to 18.6%, the highest since 1933.

Economic Takeaways –

• On Thursday, 1.974 million continuing claims for unemployment benefits were filed, reaching their highest level since November 2021.
• The state of the labor market is in high focus following adisappointing July jobs report and downbeat revisions to the May and June jobs reports.
• Mortgage rates dropped sharply this week after a weak July jobs report and steep downward revisions to prior months stoked fresh concerns about the health of the economy. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.63% through the week ending Wednesday, a 9 basis-point drop from 6.72% a week earlier. Meanwhile, the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate was 5.75%, down from 5.85% a week earlier.

Gold –

• Spot gold gained 0.7% to $3,392.65 per ounce as of 0202 p.m. ET (18:02 GMT), after hitting its highest level since July 23 earlier in the day.
• Apple’s CEO Tim Cook presented Donald Trump with a 24K gold gift as the company pledged $600B in U.S. manufacturing.
• Year to date, gold is up about 32%.

Oil –

• Oil prices dropped on Thursday for a sixth consecutive session after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days.
• Brent crude futures settled down 46 cents, or 0.7%, at $66.43 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 47 cents, or 0.7%, to $63.88.

Crypto –

• The crypto market jumped Thursday on excitement that bitcoin and other digital assets could soon be coming to 401(k) retirement plans.
• The price of bitcoin reclaimed the $116,000 level for the first time since July 31.

Bitcoin Surges as Trump Prepares to Greenlight Crypto in 401(k) Plans

Bitcoin rallied Thursday after news that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order allowing 401(k) retirement accounts to invest in alternative assets, including cryptocurrencies. The move could mark a major step toward mainstream adoption of digital assets.

The leading cryptocurrency climbed about 1% to reclaim the $116,000 mark for the first time since July 31, while ether jumped nearly 4%. The broader crypto market followed suit, though gains in crypto-linked stocks like Coinbase and Galaxy Digital eased as equity markets lost steam later in the day.

The order would open the $43 trillion U.S. retirement market — including nearly $9 trillion in 401(k) assets — to bitcoin, potentially transforming it into a core part of the nation’s financial infrastructure. Advocates see this as the “holy grail” for crypto adoption, offering longer-term investment flows and expanding access to millions of Americans.

Fidelity pioneered bitcoin-in-401(k) offerings in 2022, but uptake has been slow amid regulatory uncertainty and a post-2022 bear market. The Trump administration has recently accelerated efforts to position the U.S. as a global crypto hub, following July’s signing of the GENIUS Act, the first federal law governing stablecoins.

Trump Taps Stephen Miran for Fed Board Seat

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate Stephen Miran, current chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, filling the seat vacated by Adriana Kugler’s resignation. Miran’s term will run through January 31, 2026.

In a Truth Social post, Trump praised Miran’s economic expertise, Harvard Ph.D., and prior service in his first administration, calling him “unparalleled” and “an outstanding choice.” Miran previously served as a Treasury Department economic policy adviser under Steven Mnuchin, worked as a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital Management, and played a key role in crafting Trump’s tariff policy and broader economic agenda.

Kugler, who joined the Fed board in September 2023, will depart Friday to return to Georgetown University. Her early exit opens the door for another voice potentially supportive of interest rate cuts as soon as September — a stance that could align with Trump’s monetary policy preferences.

Economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics called the pick a “welcome surprise” and predicted an easy Senate confirmation.

Top Gainers

Several stocks experienced significant gains. Some of the top gainers included:

Sunrun, Inc. (RUN) +32.30%

Dutch Bros, Inc. (BROS) +21.60%

Installed Building Products, Inc. (IBP) +20.48%

Marqeta, Inc. (MQ) +20.25%

Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS) +18.55%

Top Losers

The top US stock losers today, based on percentage change included:

Vivid Seats, Inc. (SEAT) -30.18%

Crocs, Inc. (CROX) -29.24%

Haemonetics Corp. (HAE) -26.58%

Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT) -22.03%

Hagerty, Inc. (HGTY) -14.47%

Notables

• Toyota (TM) said in its first quarter results that the impact of US tariffs will be some $9.5 billion.
• Apple (AAPL) shares moved higher on Thursday as Trump and CEO Tim Cook announced the company would make a $100 billion investment in the US.
• Duolingo (DUOL) shares swung sharply Thursday — surging over 30% after strong second-quarter results, then giving up much of those gains following OpenAI’s unveiling of its new GPT-5 model.
• Shares of Firefly Aerospace — trading under the ticker symbol FLY — opened at $70 per share on Thursday, about 56% above their IPO prices of $45.
• Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) fell more than 6% after reporting Q2 free cash flow of $702 million, missing StreetAccount’s $863 million estimate. Cash from operations came in at $983 million, well below the expected $1.29 billion.
• AppLovin (APP) jumped 9% as Q2 earnings of $2.26 per share on $1.26 billion in revenue topped FactSet forecasts of $1.96 and $1.22 billion, respectively. The company also issued stronger-than-expected Q3 guidance.
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 5%, rebounding from a 6% drop the prior day after weak Q2 results. The rally followed the Trump administration’s move to raise tariffs on imported semiconductors.
• In a Thursday note, Bank of America double upgraded telecommunications stock CommScope to a buy rating from underperform.
• Crocs (CROX) tumbled more than 25% Thursday after the company reaffirmed its decision to withdraw full-year guidance, telling investors on its earnings call it will only provide forecasts for the current quarter.

What to Watch Ahead

• August 8: Expected earnings from Under Armour (UA).
• August 11: Expected earnings from Barrick Mining (B) and AMC (AMC).
• August 12: July CPI and expected earnings from Cardinal Health (CAH), Cava Group (CAVA), Circle Internet (CRCL), and CoreWeave (CRWV).
• August 13: Expected earnings from Cisco (CSCO).
• August 14: July PPI and expected earnings from Deere (DE), JD.com (JD), Tapestry (TPR), and Applied Materials (AMAT).