CNBC: Market No Longer Focused on EU-US Trade Agreement, Urgently Needs Another New Catalyst

BlockBeats News, July 29th, according to CNBC, the European and American stock markets had a muted reaction to the transatlantic trade agreement reached over the weekend. The S&P 500 index edged up slightly, but the gain was almost negligible; meanwhile, the STOXX Europe 600 index fell. Both indexes saw temporary gains during their respective trading sessions but gave up most of the gains towards the closing.

On the European continent, people may be starting to realize that this agreement might not actually be beneficial for them. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Addad expressed hopes for more open trade. At the same time, U.S. President Trump announced on Monday that he is "highly likely" to impose a uniform tariff of 15% to 20% on countries that have not signed a trade agreement with the United States. This indicates that most tariffs in the future may stabilize at this level, helping to alleviate the previous market uncertainties.

In addition, economists have also lowered their expectations on the impact of tariffs on the U.S. economy—this suggests that even if new agreements are reached in the future, they may not necessarily trigger a strong rally on Wall Street.
Therefore, the tariff issue is temporarily on hold. Investors' attention is now turning to the earnings reports of the "tech giants": Meta and Microsoft are set to report their performance on Wednesday. If they perform well, it may bring the optimism that was lacking on Monday to the market.