It’s as if nothing happened. A week ago, the latest taboo to be broken by the Trump administration looked to be a doozy: the president fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after revised data showed unemployment on the march in a way not seen since the pandemic. Add to that stirring inflation and anxious consumers and one could reasonably see Wall Street taking a breather.

But no. Stocks on Friday ended their best week since June, with a rally in big tech driving the Nasdaq 100 to all-time highs and the S&P 500 approaching 6,400, closing on the brink of a record. Bret Kenwell at eToro said momentum has been strong in equities, with both technicals and fundamentals working in bulls’ favor.

“While an unexpected risk could develop in the second half of 2025, earnings have been better-than-expected and the Fed is inching closer to lower interest rates,” he said. “As long as the economy holds up, there are catalysts in play for stocks to continue higher.” —David E. Rovella

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It looks like Trump’s sudden souring on India is pushing the world’s most populous nation closer to Moscow as India Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Vladimir Putin to come for a visit.

The two leaders spoke to each other on Friday, reviewed bilateral agreements and discussed Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, according to a statement from the Indian government. Putin has been invited to attend the India-Russia Annual Summit in India later this year, it said.

The invitation comes on the heels of Trump announcing a 50% tariff on Indian exports, penalizing the country for its Russian oil imports. In the wake of the US tariff announcement, India signed agreements with Russia to deepen cooperation in aerospace science and technology as well in rare earth minerals, aluminum, fertilizers, railway transport and other sectors.

Figma has taken investors in the year’s hottest initial public offering for a wild ride, shedding $21 billion from a peak in the days following its record-breaking issue. Figma’s 250% first-day pop was the largest in at least three decades for a US-listed company that raised more than $1 billion.

The San Francisco-based company’s shares have been trading on-and-off all week below $85, where they opened on July 31. Despite modest rebounds, the design software firm’s stock has given back much of the increase that briefly mesmerized Wall Street.

“Figma was a testimony to the speculative nature of this market, abetted by some of the peculiarities of the IPO process,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. “Folks will probably lose interest and move onto the next situation if the stock persists below its opening print.”

The Trump administration triggered chaos across gold markets after details emerged of a Customs and Border Protection decision that one-kilogram and 100-ounce gold bars should be subject to so-called reciprocal tariffs. Such a directive would bring sweeping implications for bullion around the world and could have disrupted the functioning of the US futures contract.

The Trump administration on Friday appeared to recognize the problem, and suggested it would issue a new policy clarifying that imports of gold bars, in fact, should not face tariffs. More details to come, the White House said.

Hedge funds cut their bullish stance on US oil to the lowest since mid-April as rising US crude inventories and OPEC+’s production increases drive bearish sentiment. Money managers’ net-long position on West Texas Intermediate is now at its smallest since Trump launched his “reciprocal” tariffs.

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