MARKET SNAPSHOT
U.S. stocks rose after the U.S. said it would resume trade talks with Canada. Treasury yields fell as markets eyed the June jobs report that's due out Thursday. The dollar weakened, ending a losing quarter with the prospect of approaching monetary easing that could add downward pressure on the currency. Oil futures retreated after three straight sessions of gains, ending both the month and the quarter lower. Gold futures rose, and have gained more than 25% in the past six months.
MARKET WRAPS
EQUITIES
U.S. stocks extended their recent rally after the U.S. and Canada agreed to resume trade talks, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ending the quarter at fresh highs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both gained 0.5%.
Monday marked the final day of a wild three months for equity investors - shaped by a huge stock-market drawdown over Trump's trade war and the stunning rebound that followed. The S&P 500 posted its largest quarterly percentage gain since the fourth quarter of 2023, and the Nasdaq Composite had its best quarter in five years.
In trade news, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said the U.S. would resume trade negotiations with Canada after America's northern neighbor withdrew a digital-services tax.
Meanwhile, a battle looms over the final passage of Trump's "big, beautiful bill," which Republicans narrowly advanced over the weekend. A Senate vote-a-rama is underway and is expected to last many hours as various GOP factions seek to push the bill in their favored direction.
Earlier Monday, stocks in Asia were mixed.
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6%, snapping a two-session losing streak. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 1.1%, and the ChiNext Price Index gained 1.35%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.9%.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.8% to close at its highest level since last July.
Stocks in Australia rose, as the S&P/ASX 200 Benchmark Index gained 0.3%, snapping a two-session losing streak.
In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.2%, the third consecutive session of increases.
COMMODITIES
Oil futures retreated after three straight sessions of gains, ending both the month and the quarter lower.
With the Israel-Iran cease-fire holding, much of the war premium remains absent and focus has turned to next Sunday's meeting of OPEC+, when the group is expected to agree to raise output in August by at least another 411,000 barrels a day.
"What OPEC+ does now is really the main driver over the next couple of months," said John Kilduff of Again Capital. "I wouldn't say we're grossly oversupplied, and we're certainly not undersupplied, but this could push it deeper into the oversupplied territory that would be a big negative for prices."
West Texas Intermediate settled down 0.6% at $65.11 a barrel for an 8.9% second quarter loss. Brent lost 9.5% in the second quarter, with the August contract expiring at $67.61 a barrel. September Brent slipped 0.1% to $66.74 a barrel.
Gold gained more than 25% in the past six months. With gold finding new record highs in the second quarter, the first half of 2025 is the best showing for gold since the second half of 2007. In the quarter ending June 30, gold gained 5.5%.
The front-month contract closed at $3,294.40 a troy ounce, up 0.6% for the day.
Analysts say that gold prices are consolidating around the $3,300 per troy ounce mark after a record high earlier this month.
"The easing in the Middle East and the U.S.-Sino signing both reduce tensions and therefore work against gold but potentially help silver," said Rhona O'Connell of StoneX.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Republicans Charge Ahead With Megabill's Fate Uncertain
WASHINGTON-Senate Republicans charged forward Monday with a marathon session to pass President Trump's "big, beautiful bill," as the party races to get the legislation to the president's desk by its self-imposed July 4 deadline.
The voting on amendments and procedural motions is expected to last many hours as various GOP factions seek to push the bill in their favored direction on charged political issues such as changes to Medicaid, food-assistance programs and tax cuts. Centrists are fighting to limit cuts to benefit programs and potentially reel back changes to clean-energy tax credits. Fiscal conservatives argue that the sprawling domestic-policy bill is a prime opportunity to address the nation's rising debt, and they are pushing for deeper spending cuts.
Republicans can lose only three votes in the Senate and still pass the bill, and Sens. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) are firm "no" votes. GOP leaders will have to placate both wings of their party, and changes that satisfy moderates could cost conservative votes-and vice versa.
Canada Rescinds Digital-Services Tax to Salvage Trade Discussions With U.S.
Canada said it would rescind a digital-services tax in a bid to salvage trade discussions with the U.S. after President Trump paused talks on Friday.
Canada's finance department was set to collect billions of dollars from U.S. tech companies starting Monday, when payments were due under a digital-services tax that Canada's Liberal government implemented last year, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
On Sunday, the government said it would pause collections and introduce legislation in Parliament to rescind the tax, "in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States."
EU Trade Chief Plans Trip to Washington as Tariff Deadline Looms
The European Union's top trade official will head to Washington this week for talks as Brussels' officials race to secure a deal before a key deadline expires next week.
Maros Sefcovic told reporters on Monday that he'll travel to the U.S. and seek meetings with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
"We hope to see them in Washington later this week," Sefcovic said, adding that Wednesday and Thursday are options for talks.
Mark Zuckerberg Announces New Meta 'Superintelligence Labs' Unit
Mark Zuckerberg announced a new "Superintelligence" division within Meta Platforms, officially organizing an effort that has been the subject of an intense recruiting blitz in recent months.
Former Scale CEO Alexandr Wang will lead the team as chief AI officer, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will lead the company's work on AI products, according to an internal memo Zuckerberg sent to employees that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The new organization, called Meta Superintelligence Labs, will house Meta's fundamental AI research team, also known as FAIR; the team that currently builds the company's Llama models; and the team that develops Meta's AI products-as well as a new lab focused on "developing the next generation of our models."
Boeing Names Ex-Lockheed Martin Executive to Succeed CFO Brian West
Boeing said Brian West, its chief financial officer, would depart the role later this summer and be succeeded by the former financial chief of Lockheed Martin.
The jet maker said Monday that West is set to become a senior advisor to Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg as the Arlington, Va., company brings in Jesus "Jay" Malave as executive vice president and its next chief financial officer on Aug. 15.
Malave served as CFO for Lockheed Martin from February 2022 until last April. Before that, he was the CFO of L3Harris.
Home Depot Wins Bidding War to Buy GMS for $4.3 Billion
Home Depot will buy building-products distributor GMS for about $4.3 billion, winning a bidding war over roofing-products distributor QXO.
Under terms of the deal, the home-improvement company will purchase all outstanding shares of GMS's common stock for $110 apiece. Including debt, the transaction is valued at about $5.5 billion.
The buy represents a 36% premium to GMS's unaffected share price as of June 18, GMS said Monday.