Heading into July, investors focused on tariff rhetoric and what could potentially change in trade talks between the US and the rest of the world. With most of July being fairly tame when it came to negotiations - the stock market saw a strong move higher, making new highs.  Many companies relient on international trade and relationships, Amazon(AMZN), Apple(AAPL) and Nvidia(NVDA) to name some bigger players, saw a strong month. Nvidia continues to move higher, breaking key resistance levels as it marches towards $200. 

The US has extended talks with Mexican for another 90 days, most other countries continue to get hit with a 15% tariff rate. India was set at 25% though due to their relationship with Russia according to the US. Some of these recent tariffs have affected the metals negatively. Copper is one of the main commodities that have experienced volatility due to recent trade wars. This manufacturing metal’s decline carried over to silver and gold, silver dropped a few dollars after hitting five year highs. Usually during uncertain times, silver and gold outperforms other commodities - but sometimes that is not the case when it is tied to copper’s fundamentals and macro factors come more into play.

The US Fed decided to keep rates as is, which was expected. US consumer data is also inching in a more positive direction. These two factors should remain important and something traders monitor closely. Although the US data surprised this week, showing a little more growth than anticipated, there are so many moving parts and unknowns that all these reports should be taken with a grain of salt as the next breaking news may trump the next. 

Disclaimer: Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Opinions are my own. Profitable trades are not guaranteed.