Apple experienced eight consecutive declines; nuclear power stocks Oklo surged by 23%; U.S. Steel increased by 21%. Following Trump’s tariff threats, European automotive stocks fell over 3%, the U.S. dollar index reached a new low for the month, the yen rose over 1%, the offshore yuan surged over 300 points to break 7.18, setting a six-month high, Bitcoin once plunged over $4,000 from Thursday’s record high, and crude oil initially fell nearly 2% but later turned positive.
Gold futures rose over 5% for the week. Trump threatened to impose taxes on the EU and Apple, leading to a downward trend in the U.S. stock market, with the S&P 500 falling for four consecutive days, and Apple leading the decline among the tech giants. As risk aversion regained momentum, U.S. Treasury prices rose, and gold made a significant rebound, while Bitcoin, which had repeatedly set new highs in the previous two days, plummeted. Trump’s tariff threats hit U.S. stocks hard, and Bessent’s subsequent speech attempted to soothe the market, with major U.S. stock indices easing their decline but still closing lower: during European trading hours, according to CCTV news, on May 23rd local time, President Trump indicated on social media that he suggested imposing a 50% tariff on the EU starting from June 1st. According to Xinhua News Agency, Trump also warned Apple on social media that iPhones manufactured abroad might face heavy taxes. The news of tariffs affected trade-related automotive stocks leading the decline in European stocks, with the automotive sector falling over 3%, U.S. stocks opened low, and the three major stock indices hit daily lows at the beginning; the U.S. dollar index accelerated its decline, reaching a new low for the month, the safe-haven currency yen rebounded over 1%, the offshore yuan surged over 300 points to break 7. 18, setting a six-month high, Bitcoin once plunged over $4,000 from Thursday’s record high; gold rose over 2% during trading; crude oil initially fell nearly 2%. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that Trump’s tariff threats are to prompt the EU to speed up, and several major trade agreements will emerge in the future. In the early U.S. stock market session, Bessent also downplayed the recent weakening of the dollar and dissociated U. S. Treasury fluctuations from U.S. tax legislation. After Bessent’s speech, the U.S. stock market’s decline narrowed, but it still closed lower collectively. At the end of the U.S. stock market session, Trump posted in support of the cooperation between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, stating that the cooperation would create at least 70,000 jobs and contribute $14 billion to the U.S. economy, leading investors to expect that he would overturn Biden’s decision to approve Nippon Steel’s acquisition. U.S. Steel’s stock price rose by over 20% at the end of the session. On Friday, the three major stock indices closed lower collectively. All seven tech giants fell, with Apple falling over 3% due to Trump’s influence, marking eight consecutive declines. Chinese concept stocks bucked the trend and closed higher, with Bilibili closing up nearly 3%. The financial market experienced a turbulent week, with the U. S. sovereign credit rating downgraded last Friday, weak performance in the 20-year Treasury auction on Wednesday, and growing concerns about increasing U.S. fiscal spending, all impacting the market.The three major US stock indices experienced declines: The S&P 500 index closed down 39.19 points, a decrease of 0.67%, at 5,802.82. For the week, it accumulated a decline of 2.61%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 256.02 points, a decrease of 0.61%, at 41,603.07. For the week, it accumulated a decline of 2.47%. The Nasdaq index closed down 188.53 points, a decrease of 1.00%, at 18,737.21. The Nasdaq 100 index closed down 196.82 points, a decrease of 0.93%, at 20,915.66. For the week, it accumulated a decline of 2.39%. US industry ETFs: The Internet stock index ETF closed down 1.48%, the semiconductor ETF fell 1.4%, and the global technology stock index ETF fell 1.18%. The energy sector ETF closed up 0.32%, and the utility sector ETF rose 1.2%. The ‘Magnificent 7’, an index of seven major US technology stocks, fell 1.49%, reporting 157.36 points, with a weekly accumulation of a 2.82% decline. Apple closed down 3.02%, while Meta Platforms, Google A, Nvidia, Amazon, and Microsoft fell by up to 1.49%, and Tesla fell 0.5%. For the week, Apple accumulated a decline 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%. Year-to-date in 2025, Apple has accumulated a decline of 21.83%, Tesla fell 15.97%, Google A fell 10.9%, Meta has accumulated an increase of 7.19%, and Microsoft rose 7.21%. Chip stocks: The Philadelphia Semiconductor index closed down 1.53%, at 4,702.38, with a weekly accumulation of a 2.29% decline. TSMC ADR closed down 2.15%, with a weekly accumulation of a 1.15% decline. AI concept stocks: Tempus AI rose 5.59%, Palantir rose 0.83%, and Applovin closed up 0.80%. For the week, Tempus AI accumulated an increase of 0.98%, Palantir fell 1.17%, and Applovin closed down 0.20%. Chinese concept stocks: The NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index closed up 0.05%, at 7,195.24, with a weekly accumulation of a 2.64% decline. Popular Chinese concept stocks such as Bilibili initially closed up 2.9%, while 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 over 1.4%, and Pony.ai fell 17%.1%. Other individual stocks: Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B shares, owned by Warren Buffett, fell by 0.02%, and have risen by 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% for the week. Nuclear power stock Oklo continued its upward trend from yesterday, closing up by 23%, with a cumulative increase of 37% for the week. The Eurozone stock index closed down by over 1.
8%, with France’s EL, Stellantis, and Mercedes-Benz leading the decline, and the automotive parts sector falling by over 4.8% for the week. The German stock index closed down by over 1.5%, the Italian banking index fell by 3% for the week, and the Danish stock index rose by over 1.6%. Pan-European stocks: The Euro Stoxx 600 index closed down by 0.93%, at 545.13 points, with a cumulative decline of 0. 75% for the week. The Eurozone Stoxx 50 index closed down by 1.81%, at 5326.31 points, with a cumulative decline of 1.86% for the week. National stock indices: The German DAX 30 index closed down by 1.54%, at 23629.58 points, moving away from its historical closing high for the second consecutive trading day, with a cumulative decline of 0.58% for the week. The French CAC 40 index closed down by 1. 65%, at 7734.40 points, with a cumulative decline of 1.93% for the week. The UK’s FTSE 100 index closed down by 0.24%, at 8717.97 points, with a cumulative increase of 0.38% for the week. The Italian FTSE MIB index closed down by 1.94%, at 39475.36 points, with a cumulative decline of 2.90% for the week. Sectors and individual stocks: Among Eurozone blue-chip stocks, EssilorLuxottica fell by 4.8%, and Stellantis fell by 4. 62%. Among all constituents of the Euro Stoxx 600 index, Partners Group Holding closed down by 5.22%, Swatch Group fell by 5.13%, Tate & Lyle fell by 4.8%, and EssilorLuxottica had the third-largest decline. The STOXX 600 Automobiles & Parts index fell by 3.1%, with a cumulative decline of 4.85% for the week. Trump’s tariff threats caused a brief spike and subsequent decline in U.S. Treasury bond prices. The two-year German bond yield fell by over 9 basis points this week, as Trump’s tariff threats disrupted the earlier horizontal fluctuation status. U.S. Treasury bonds: At the New York close, the U.S. 10-year benchmark Treasury bond yield fell by 1.77 basis points, to 4.5110%, plunging to 4.4456% after President Trump issued tariff threats against the EU and Apple. The yield rose by 2.41 basis points for the week, reaching 4. 6247% on May 22nd. The two-year U.S. Treasury bond yield rose by 0.11 basis points, reported at 3.9912%, with a cumulative increase of 2.07 basis points for the week. Eurobonds: At the end of the European market, the yield on German 10-year government bonds fell by 7.6 basis points, reported at 2.567%, with a cumulative decrease of 2.3 basis points for the week, showing an overall M-shaped trend. The yield on two-year German bonds fell by 6.7 basis points, reported at 1.
764%, with a cumulative decrease of 9.1 basis points for the week, fluctuating narrowly around 1.850% from May 19-23, and plunging on May 23 following new tariff threats from US President Trump against the EU. The ICE US Dollar Index broke below the 100 mark, and the Bloomberg Dollar Index reached a new low in about a year and a half. US Treasury Secretary Bessent stated that other countries’ currencies are appreciating, not the US dollar weakening; this fluctuation should not be seen as a ‘weak dollar’. Bitcoin surged this week, breaking through $112,000 and setting a new high, but retreated today due to Trump’s tweets. US Dollar: This week, the ICE US Dollar Index fell by 1.96%, closing at 99.114 points on Friday (May 23), continuing its downward trend. The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell by 1.73%, closing at 1210.89 points. Non-US currencies: This week, the euro against the US dollar continued to rise by 1. 81%, closing at 1.1365. The British pound against the US dollar continued to rise by 1.91%, closing at 1.3536. The US dollar against the Swiss franc continued to fall by 1.96%, closing at 0.8212. In commodity currency pairs, the Australian dollar against the US dollar rose by 1.41%, showing an overall W-shaped trend, the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar rose by 1.77%, and the US dollar against the Canadian dollar fell by 1. 70%. Japanese Yen: This week, the US dollar against the Japanese yen continued to fluctuate downward, falling by 2.15%, closing at 142.57 yen on Friday (May 23). The euro against the Japanese yen fell by 0.37%, and the British pound against the Japanese yen fell by 0.28%. Offshore RMB: At the New York close, the offshore RMB against the US dollar was reported at 7.1726 yuan, up 318 points from the previous day’s New York close, trading overall within the range of 7. 2058-7.1713 yuan, approaching the top of 7.1457 yuan on November 8, 2024. Cryptocurrencies: This week, the CME Bitcoin futures BTC main contract rose by 4.00%, closing at $109,200 at the New York close on Friday (May 23), reaching $112,000 at noon on May 22 in New York, and then retreating. The CME Ethereum futures DCR main contract fell by 1.12%, reported at $2,551.50, continuing to fluctuate upward, and significantly retreated quickly after US President Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU on May 23.Stimulated by news from Israel and Iran, and subsequently pressured by increasing inventories, oil prices experienced a slight decline this week. Crude Oil: WTI July crude oil futures closed at $61.53 per barrel, with a cumulative decrease of 0.71% for the week. Brent July crude oil futures closed at $64.78 per barrel, with a cumulative decline exceeding 0.96% for the week. Natural Gas: NYMEX June natural gas futures closed at $3.
3340 per million British thermal units, remaining flat for the week. New York gold futures rose by 5.4% this week, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index accumulated a 7.7% increase. Gold: At the New York close, spot gold increased by 1.93%, at $3,358.03 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 4.83% for the week, continuing its overall upward trend. COMEX gold futures increased by 1.94%, at $3,358. 60 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 5.40% for the week, and the August contract also accumulated a 4.96% increase. Silver: At the New York close, spot silver increased by 1.30%, at $33.4875 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 3.70% for the week. COMEX silver futures increased by 1.27%, at $33.640 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 4.02% for the week. Copper: COMEX copper futures increased by 3. 92%, at $4.8630 per pound, and continued to rise after Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU, with a cumulative increase of 5.97% for the week, breaking the earlier narrow range of fluctuating upward performance. LME copper futures closed up by $110, at $9,610 per ton. Risk Warning and Disclaimer: The market carries risks, and investment should be approached with caution. This article does not constitute personal investment advice, nor does it take into account the specific investment objectives, financial conditions, or needs of individual users. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article match their particular circumstances. Responsibility for investment decisions based on this article is assumed by the investor.