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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks lower but set for strong monthly gain despite tariff worries
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GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks lower but set for strong monthly gain despite tariff worries
May 30, 2025 12:04 PM

(Updates prices throughout, adds details on Trump commentary on

China in paragraph 4)

*

All major stock market indexes have had a strong month

*

Crude and gold prices weaken

*

Dollar on course for fifth straight month of losses

By Chibuike Oguh

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Global stocks were down on

Friday but were set to notch a weekly gain as well as the

biggest monthly increase since late 2023 despite markets having

been roiled by uncertainty over the Trump administration's

tariff policies.

Sentiments were initially buoyed at the start of the week by

signs of an easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and

Europe, after President Donald Trump delayed planned tariffs on

imports from the EU. Investor focus then shifted to earnings of

artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ), which later

reported better-than-expected results mid-week.

But markets were briefly shaken following an unexpected

ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade striking down

Trump's so-called Liberation Day tariffs, triggering a court

drama that saw an appellate court temporarily reinstate them.

Trump said on Friday that China had violated an agreement

with the U.S. to mutually roll back tariffs and trade

restrictions for critical minerals and issued a new veiled

threat to get tougher with Beijing.

"It's been quite a week," said Mark Malek, chief investment

officer at SiebertNXT. "Within four days we got a compressed

version of what we've had for the entire month, which is the tug

of war between forces that drove markets higher last year and

the prior year - that being AI and technology growth stocks -

and then this looming challenge we have with all these

administration tariffs."

On Wall Street, all three main indexes were trading lower on

the session, dragged by weaknesses in technology, energy and

consumer discretionary stocks. They were, however, set to end

the week and the month higher, with the benchmark S&P 500 index

poised to snap three straight months of declines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.24% to

42,111.71, the S&P 500 fell 0.61% to 5,875.91 and the

Nasdaq Composite fell 1.16% to 18,952.93.

European shares finished higher by 0.14%, notching

a weekly gain and adding 4% for the month of May. MSCI's

broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

closed up 0.72% overnight, ending the week lower

but gaining nearly 5% for the month.

MSCI's main world index was down 0.37% to

877, but was on track to gain more than 1% for the week and more

than 5% in May - making it the biggest monthly gain since

November 2023.

Data showed on Friday that U.S. consumers had increased

their spending marginally in April, and the closely watched

Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index rose 0.1%

last month, in line with expectations.

Trump and Fed Chair Jerome Powell had their first

face-to-face meeting on Thursday. Afterwards a Fed statement

said: "Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary

policy except to stress that the path of policy will depend

entirely on incoming economic information and what that means

for the outlook."

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell

0.8 basis points to 4.416%. The 30-year bond yield

rose 1.2 basis points to 4.9346% after reversing earlier losses.

The dollar was higher against major peers including the euro

and on track for a monthly gain against the Japanese yen. The

dollar weakened 0.23% to 143.83 against the yen, while

the euro was down 0.01% at $1.1364.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

rose 0.05% to 99.30. It was on track for the fifth straight

month of losses, weighed down by tariff uncertainty.

Oil prices fell and were headed for a second consecutive

weekly loss, as investors weigh a potentially larger OPEC+

output hike for July.

Brent crude futures fell 0.439% to $63.90 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.53% to $60.63 a

barrel.

Gold prices slipped as the dollar edged higher. Spot gold

fell 0.7% to $3,292.54 an ounce. U.S. gold futures

fell 0.81% to $3,290.10 an ounce.

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