On Monday, August 11, 2025, Wall Street found itself in a holding pattern, with investors treading carefully as they awaited a pivotal inflation report expected to shape the Federal Reserve’s next moves. Despite a flurry of headlines—from presidential tariff decisions to high-stakes executive meetings and volatile commodity prices—the U.S. stock market closed modestly lower, reflecting a climate of uncertainty and anticipation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average led the declines, finishing down 0.45%, or approximately 200.5 points, at 43,975. The S&P 500 index slipped 0.25%, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.30%. According to Eurasia Business News, this drop was driven in part by losses in the Oil & Gas, Technology, and Industrials sectors. Notably, shares of Caterpillar and Nike weighed on the Dow, while 3M, Procter & Gamble, and Sherwin-Williams managed to eke out gains.
Market participants seemed transfixed by the looming consumer price index (CPI) report, scheduled for release on Tuesday, August 12. As Investors.com reported, economists anticipated a 0.2% increase in prices for July and a 2.8% rise year-over-year. The so-called core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was projected to climb 0.3% month-over-month and 3.1% annually. These numbers, while not earth-shattering, carry outsized significance as traders try to divine whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting—a prospect that, per the CME’s FedWatch Tool, markets were pricing in at an 87% probability.
“Investors seem to be betting on upcoming interest rate cuts and counting on them to counteract the drag from tariffs. We think it is too early to make that assumption,” said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, in comments provided to Investors.com. “The degree of tariff impacts and how long they will take to work through the economy remain open questions. In the meantime, high equity valuations may heighten the impact any negative developments have on stock returns.”
Amid these economic crosscurrents, Intel’s stock stood out with a robust 4.4% gain, closing at around $20.83. The rally came as Intel’s CEO visited the White House for a meeting with former President Donald Trump, who had recently called for the executive’s removal over the company’s China ties. According to Eurasia Business News, Trump later described the meeting as “a very interesting one,” adding, “His success and rise is an amazing story.” The encounter was widely interpreted as a positive signal for Intel, which has faced scrutiny over its international business relationships.
Elsewhere in the tech sector, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made headlines for striking a rare deal with the U.S. government: both companies agreed to pay a 15% cut of sales from their artificial-intelligence chips (Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308) to China directly to the Trump administration. While the full terms remained unclear, the news sent Nvidia and AMD shares down 0.3% each, according to Investing.com. Meanwhile, Nvidia and AMD’s mixed performance was further complicated by a chip-revenue pact with the U.S. government, as reported by Investors.com.
Apple Inc. also experienced a pullback, with shares sliding after their best week since 2020. Tesla, on the other hand, cleared a key entry on the stock market, while AMC Entertainment shares popped and C3.ai cratered, reflecting the day’s patchwork of winners and losers.
Commodity markets were no less eventful. Gold futures for December delivery fell 2.61% to $3,400.20 per troy ounce, as reported by Investing.com. The drop followed a brief surge last week, when rumors circulated that Swiss gold bars might face a hefty 39% tariff. President Trump’s subsequent declaration that there would be no tariff on gold bars helped reverse the rally. Gold prices generally traded in the $3,350 to $3,460 range throughout the day, per Eurasia Business News. Meanwhile, crude oil for September delivery edged up 0.23% to $64.03 a barrel, and October Brent oil rose 0.18% to $66.71 a barrel.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar index futures rose 0.33% to 98.33. The euro-dollar pair (EUR/USD) was little changed at 1.16, while the dollar-yen pair (USD/JPY) ticked up 0.27% to 148.13. The CBOE Volatility Index, a key measure of market anxiety, jumped 7.19% to 16.24, suggesting that investors were bracing for heightened uncertainty in the days ahead.
Geopolitics remained a central theme as well. The trade truce with China, set to expire on Tuesday, August 12, hung in the balance. President Trump extended a pause on higher tariffs for another 90 days, a move that markets initially shrugged off. However, Trump’s late-Sunday call for China to step up American soybean purchases sparked a rally in soybean prices. As Eurasia Business News noted, “Trump urged China late Sunday to step up American soybean purchases,” and later floated the idea that China could quadruple its imports from the U.S.
In the background, European defense stocks slipped ahead of a scheduled meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin set for Friday, August 15, to discuss a potential Ukraine cease-fire. While the outcome of those talks remains uncertain, the mere prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough was enough to inject fresh volatility into international markets.
In the world of digital assets, Bitcoin continued its remarkable run, rising to around $120,000 and boosting shares of crypto-related firms like Coinbase and MicroStrategy. The digital currency’s rally, while not directly tied to the day’s macroeconomic news, underscored the appetite for alternative investments in a climate marked by policy pivots and geopolitical risk.
Within the S&P 500, the day’s best performers included Albemarle Corp, which surged 7% to 80.76, Electronic Arts Inc., up 5.06% to an all-time high of 176.12, and Micron Technology, which gained 4.09% to close at 123.72. On the flip side, Intuit Inc. tumbled 5.76% to 705.87, Hershey Co. lost 4.85% to 175.33, and EPAM Systems dropped 3.92% to 151.80. The breadth of declining stocks outpaced advancers on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, a sign of broad-based caution.
Looking ahead, Wall Street’s attention is squarely focused on the inflation data and the Federal Reserve’s next moves. Investors will also parse Thursday’s producer price index (PPI) report for additional clues on wholesale inflation, all in the run-up to the Fed’s Jackson Hole gathering and its September policy meeting. With the S&P 500 hovering near all-time highs, even a modest surprise in the data could ripple through markets, amplifying gains or triggering a deeper pullback.
As the dust settled on a day marked by anticipation, intrigue, and a dash of drama, one thing was clear: the market’s next chapter will be written not just by earnings or headlines, but by the delicate dance between policy, politics, and economic data.
