Trump's tariff threat hits US stocks hard, S&P falls for four consecutive days, Apple drops 3%, US bonds rise, gold rebounds 2%, Bitcoin plunges

Trump threatens to impose tariffs on the EU and Apple, leading to a broad decline in the US stock market, with the S&P falling for four consecutive days and Apple leading the decline among the seven tech giants. Risk aversion has returned to the forefront, with US Treasury prices rising, gold rebounding sharply, and Bitcoin, which had repeatedly set record highs in the previous two days, plummeting.

Trump's tariff threat has severely impacted the US stock market, and Treasury Secretary Becerra subsequently spoke to try to soothe the market, with major US stock indices easing their decline but still closing lower:

• European stocks during trading, according to CCTV News, on May 23 local time, US President Trump stated on social media that he suggests imposing a 50% tariff on the EU starting June 1. According to Xinhua News Agency, Trump also warned Apple on social media that foreign-made iPhones could face high tariffs.

• The tariff news affected trade-related automotive stocks, which led the decline in European stocks, with the automotive sector falling over 3%. US stocks opened lower, and the three major indices hit daily lows early in the session; the US dollar index accelerated its decline, hitting a new low for the month, while the safe-haven currency yen rebounded over 1%. The offshore yuan rose over 300 points during trading, breaking 7.18 to reach a six-month high, while Bitcoin plummeted over $4,000 from Thursday's record high; gold rose over 2% during trading; crude oil fell nearly 2% at one point.

• US Treasury Secretary Becerra stated that Trump's tariff threat is prompting the EU to accelerate, and several major trade agreements will emerge in the future. In the early US stock market, Becerra also downplayed the recent weakness of the dollar, distancing the fluctuations in US Treasury bonds from US tax legislation. After Becerra's remarks, the decline in US stocks narrowed somewhat, but they still closed collectively lower.

• At the close of the US stock market, Trump posted in support of the collaboration between US Steel and Nippon Steel, stating that the collaboration will create at least 70,000 jobs and contribute $14 billion to the US economy, leading investors to expect that he will overturn Biden's decision to approve Nippon Steel's acquisition. US Steel's stock price surged over 20% at the close.

On Friday, the three major stock indices collectively closed lower. The seven tech giants all fell, with Apple dropping over 3% influenced by Trump, marking its eighth consecutive decline. Chinese concept stocks rose against the trend, with Bilibili up nearly 3%. The financial market experienced a turbulent week, impacted by the downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating last Friday, a weak performance in the 20-year Treasury auction on Wednesday, and growing concerns over increasing U.S. fiscal spending.

U.S. stock indices:

• The S&P 500 index closed down 39.19 points, a decrease of 0.67%, at 5802.82 points. It fell 2.61% for the week.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 256.02 points, a decrease of 0.61%, at 41603.07 points. It fell 2.47% for the week.

• The Nasdaq closed down 188.53 points, a decrease of 1.00%, at 18737.21 points. The Nasdaq 100 index closed down 196.82 points, a decrease of 0.93%, at 20915.66 points. It fell 2.39% for the week.

U.S. sector ETFs:

• The internet stock index ETF fell 1.48%, the semiconductor ETF fell 1.4%, and the global tech stock index ETF fell 1.18%.

• The energy sector ETF rose 0.32%, and the utilities ETF rose 1.2%.

"Magnificent Seven":

• The U.S. tech stock seven giants (Magnificent 7) index fell 1.49%, at 157.36 points, down 2.82% for the week.

• Apple closed down 3.02%, Meta Platforms, Google A, NVIDIA, Amazon, and Microsoft fell up to 1.49%, while Tesla fell 0.5%.

• This week, Apple fell a total of 7.57%, Tesla and NVIDIA fell 3.04%, Amazon fell 2.24%, Meta fell 2.07%, Microsoft fell 0.9%, and Google A rose 1.37%.

• From the beginning of 2025 to now, Apple has fallen a total of 21.83%, Tesla has fallen 15.97%, Google A has fallen 10.9%, while Meta has risen 7.19%, and Microsoft has risen 7.21%.

Chip stocks:

• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed down 1.53%, at 4702.38 points, down 2.29% for the week.

• TSMC ADR closed down 2.15%—down 1.15% for the week.

AI concept stocks:

• Tempus AI rose by 5.59%, Palantir rose by 0.83%, and Applovin closed up by 0.80%.

• This week, Tempus AI accumulated a rise of 0.98%, Palantir fell by 1.17%, and Applovin closed down by 0.20%.

Chinese Concept Stocks:

• The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up by 0.05%, at 7195.24 points, with a cumulative decline of 2.64% this week.

• Popular Chinese concept stocks: Bilibili preliminarily closed up by 2.9%, Li Auto, Tencent, NetEase, and Yum China rose by up to 0.7%, Pinduoduo, Alibaba, and New Oriental fell by up to 0.9%, Xiaomi and Nio fell by more than 1.4%, and Pony.ai fell by 17.1%.

Other Stocks:

• Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares, owned by Buffett, fell by 0.02%, with an increase of 11.07% year-to-date.

• The "Trump Tariff Losers" index closed down by 2.08%, at 94.18 points, with a cumulative decline of 4.96% this week.

• Nuclear power stock Oklo continued its upward trend from yesterday, closing up by 23%, with a cumulative rise of 37% this week.

Eurozone stock indices fell by more than 1.8%, with France's EL, Stellantis, and Mercedes leading the decline, and the auto parts sector falling by more than 4.8% this week. The German stock index fell by more than 1.5%, the Italian banking index fell by 3% this week, and the Danish stock index rose by more than 1.6%.

Pan-European Stocks:

• The European STOXX 600 index closed down by 0.93%, at 545.13 points, with a cumulative decline of 0.75% this week.

• The Eurozone STOXX 50 index closed down by 1.81%, at 5326.31 points, with a cumulative decline of 1.86% this week.

National Stock Indices:

• The German DAX 30 index closed down by 1.54%, at 23629.58 points, marking the second consecutive trading day away from the closing historical high, with a cumulative decline of 0.58% this week.

• The French CAC 40 index closed down by 1.65%, at 7734.40 points, with a cumulative decline of 1.93% this week.

• The UK FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.24%, at 8717.97 points, with a cumulative rise of 0.38% this week.

• The Italian FTSE MIB index closed down by 1.94%, at 39475.36 points, with a cumulative decline of 2.90% this week.

Sectors and Stocks:

• Among Eurozone blue-chip stocks, EssilorLuxottica fell by 4.8%, and Stellantis fell by 4.62%.

• Among all components of the European STOXX 600 index, Partners Group Holding closed down by 5.22%, Swatch Group fell by 5.13%, Taittinger fell by 4.8%, and EssilorLuxottica had the third-largest decline

• The STOXX 600 Automobile and Parts Index fell 3.1%, with a cumulative decline of 4.85% this week.

Trump's tariff threats caused a brief spike and retreat in U.S. Treasury prices. The yield on the two-year German bond fell more than 9 basis points this week, as Trump's tariff threats against the EU disrupted the earlier sideways trading pattern.

U.S. Treasuries:

• At the New York close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell by 1.77 basis points to 4.5110%, diving to 4.4456% after President Trump issued tariff threats against the EU and Apple. This week, it has cumulatively increased by 2.41 basis points, reaching 4.6247% on May 22.

• The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury bond rose by 0.11 basis points to 3.9912%, with a cumulative increase of 2.07 basis points this week.

  

European Bonds:

• At the European close, the yield on the 10-year German bond fell by 7.6 basis points to 2.567%, with a cumulative decline of 2.3 basis points this week, showing an overall M-shaped trend.

• The yield on the two-year German bond fell by 6.7 basis points to 1.764%, with a cumulative decline of 9.1 basis points this week, having remained in a narrow range around 1.850% from May 19-23, before diving on May 23 after President Trump issued new tariff threats against the EU.

The ICE Dollar Index fell below the 100 mark, and the Bloomberg Dollar Index hit a new low in about a year and a half. Previously, U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stated that other countries' currencies were appreciating, rather than the dollar weakening; this volatility should not be viewed as a "weak dollar." This week, Bitcoin surged significantly, breaking through $112,000 to reach a new high, but has retreated today due to Trump's tweets.

U.S. Dollar:

• This week, the ICE Dollar Index fell by a cumulative 1.96%, closing at 99.114 points on Friday (May 23) in New York, continuing to trend downward.

• The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell by a cumulative 1.73% to 1210.89 points.

  

Non-U.S. Currencies:

• This week, the euro against the dollar continued to rise, cumulatively increasing by 1.81% to 1.1365.

• The pound against the dollar continued to rise, cumulatively increasing by 1.91% to 1.3536.

• The dollar against the Swiss franc continued to fall, cumulatively decreasing by 1.96% to 0.8212.

• Among commodity currencies, the Australian dollar against the U.S. dollar cumulatively increased by 1.41%, showing a W-shaped trend, the New Zealand dollar against the U.S. dollar cumulatively increased by 1.77%, and the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar cumulatively decreased by 1.70%

Japanese Yen:

• This week, the USD/JPY continued to fluctuate downward, accumulating a decline of 2.15%, closing at 142.57 yen on Friday (May 23).

• The EUR/JPY accumulated a decline of 0.37%, and the GBP/JPY accumulated a decline of 0.28%.

Offshore Renminbi:

• At the New York close, the offshore renminbi was quoted at 7.1726 against the USD, an increase of 318 points compared to Thursday's New York close, trading overall within the range of 7.2058-7.1713, approaching the top of 7.1457 on November 8, 2024.

Cryptocurrency:

• This week, the CME Bitcoin futures BTC main contract accumulated an increase of 4.00%, closing at $109,200 on Friday (May 23), reaching $112,000 at noon on May 22 before retreating.

• The CME Ether futures DCR main contract accumulated a decline of 1.12%, quoted at $2,551.50, continuing to fluctuate higher, but significantly retreated after President Trump threatened the EU with a 50% tariff increase on May 23.

Stimulated by news from Israel and Iran, followed by an increase in inventory, oil prices ultimately experienced a slight decline this week.

Crude Oil:

• WTI July crude oil futures closed at $61.53 per barrel, accumulating a decline of 0.71% this week.

• Brent July crude oil futures closed at $64.78 per barrel, accumulating a decline of over 0.96% this week.

Natural Gas:

• NYMEX June natural gas futures closed at $3.3340 per million British thermal units, remaining flat this week.

New York gold futures rose 5.4% this week, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index accumulated a rise of 7.7%.

Gold:

• At the New York close, spot gold rose 1.93%, quoted at $3,358.03 per ounce, accumulating an increase of 4.83% this week, continuing to rise overall.

• COMEX gold futures rose 1.94%, quoted at $3,358.60 per ounce, accumulating an increase of 5.40% this week, with the August contract also accumulating a rise of 4.96%.

Silver:

• In New York's late trading, spot silver rose 1.30% to $33.4875 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 3.70% this week.

• COMEX silver futures rose 1.27% to $33.640 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 4.02% this week.

Copper:

• COMEX copper futures rose 3.92% to $4.8630 per pound, continuing to rise after Trump issued a 50% tariff threat to the EU, with a cumulative increase of 5.97% this week, breaking the earlier narrow range of fluctuations.

• LME copper closed up $110 at $9,610 per ton