4:05pm: Sentiment sours
Wall Street finished the final trading of August on the back foot, as economic data reignited investors’ inflation fears.
The tech-laden Nasdaq led the declines, down 1.2% at 21,450 points. The S&P 500 was down 0.7% at 6,456 points while the Dow Jones pulled back 0.3% at 45,516 points.
US markets will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
3:47pm: Proactive news headlines
- Nextech3D.AI (CSE:NTAR, OTCQX:NEXCF) announced that ARway achieved profitability for the first time in its history, supported by an 83% year-over-year increase in revenue for the fiscal first quarter 2026.
- Century Lithium Corp. (TSX-V:LCE, OTCQX:CYDVF) reported that it has completed the second and final tranche of its previously announced financing under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (LIFE).
- Charbone Hydrogen Corporation (TSX-V:CH, OTCQB:CHHYF) announced its second quarter 2025 financial results, marking the first recognition of revenues, and continued progress on its flagship Sorel-Tracy green hydrogen facility in Québec, Canada.
- Replenish Nutrients Holding Corp (CSE:ERTH, OTC:VVIVF) announced that its second quarter 2025 saw improvements in revenue, gross profit, gross profit percentage, funds used in operations and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).
- MustGrow Biologics Corp. (TSX-V:MGRO, OTCQB:MGROF) announced it has closed a non-brokered private placement, completed a warrant repricing, and settled outstanding debt through the issuance of shares.
- Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V:HPY, OTC:HPYCF) has announced the appointment of Grant McAdam as a Director, effective immediately.
- Baselode Energy Corp (TSX-V:FIND, OTCQB:BSENF) reported that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Forum Energy Metals Corp (TSX-V:FMC, OTCQB:FDCFF).
2:42pm: Market movers
- Duolingo (NASDAQ:DUOL) shares fell more than 7% on Friday after Google revealed new artificial intelligence-powered live translation and language learning tools.
- Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA)’s NYSE-listed shares climbed about 12% on Friday after the Chinese e-commerce and cloud-computing company reported better-than-expected earnings and stronger cloud growth for its first quarter 2025.
- Dell Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:DELL) shares fell after the company posted record second quarter results but reported margin pressure and issued adjusted earnings guidance below Wall Street expectations.
- PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP, ETR:PEP) reported on Friday that it has increased its ownership interest in Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ:CELH) in a $585 million convertible preferred stock deal.
- Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares fell sharply after the company issued a sales forecast that came in below Wall Street expectations, overshadowing record second quarter results fueled by strong demand in artificial intelligence.
- Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT, ETR:CAT1) has warned that tariffs will have a bigger impact on its financial results this year, sending shares down.
2:18pm: De minimis exemption ends
De minimis exemption (duty free), which permitted goods under US$800 to enter the US without extra fees, ended on Friday following the implementation of a July executive order by US President Trump.
Those shipments will now be subject to duties of up to US$200, weighing on the profits of small businesses globally and potentially leading to extra costs for American customers.
The US government had long expressed concern that de minimis shipments were being used to smuggle illegal drugs into the country, since they're not inspected as closely by US Customs.
Canada has its own de minimis exemption for goods from the US and Mexico up to $150.
Canadians can still send gifts and letter mail valued at less than US$100 to the US at no extra cost, and companies that meet the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)'s rules of origin are still supposed to be able to ship duty-free.
12:45pm: Renewed inflation worries
Wall Street remained in the red on Friday afternoon, retreating from record highs as renewed inflation concerns dampened sentiment.
“US PCE inflation rising slightly more-than-expected, the US goods trade deficit widening more than forecast, personal spending accelerating and the Chicago PMI coming in much weaker-than-expected, provoked an end of week sell-off in US stock markets,” IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said.
“With September Fed rate cut expectations slightly higher at 89%, investors are looking to next Friday's US non-farm payrolls for guidance.”
11:32am: Tariffs hit Canada's GDP
Canada’s economy shrank in the second quarter of 2025 as new US tariffs sharply reduced exports, leading to the first quarterly decline in seven quarters, according to data released on Friday by Statistics Canada.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.4% in the April to June period, following a 0.5% increase in the first quarter.
On an annualized basis, GDP contracted 1.6%, a steeper decline than the 0.6% drop economists had expected.
The contraction was driven primarily by a 7.5% fall in exports, reflecting the impact of trade measures between Canada and the United States.
International exports of passenger cars and light trucks plunged 24.7%, while exports of industrial machinery, equipment and parts dropped 18.5%. Travel services also declined 11.1%.
Imports fell 1.3% as Canadian counter-tariffs took effect, with lower purchases of passenger vehicles and travel services partially offset by higher imports of intermediate metal products, particularly unwrought gold, silver and platinum group metals.
9:55am: Nasdaq slides as Nvidia drops
Wall Street's opening move was downwards as Friday trading began, with the Nasdaq setting the pace with a 0.9% slide.
The S&P 500 has dropped back 0.5% from its record high above 6,500, while the Dow Jones is down 0.3%.
Biggest fallers on the Nasdaq 100 were Marvell Technology, down 6%, and Nvidia, down 2.6%.
On the S&P, Dell Technologies led the retreat, down 10%, followed by Super Micro Computer down 4% and Caterpillar, down 2.7%, and Ulta Beauty, down 3.2%.
Dell reported second fiscal quarter results afterhours, beating Wall Street expectations for sales and revenue but disappointing on the outlook.
Super Micro cautioned in an SEC filing material weaknesses in financial reporting controls.
Caterpillar warned that tariffs will have a bigger impact on its financial results this year.
8:40am: Wall Street futures in the red after PCE inflation print
US stock futures were in the red on Friday, after the release of import inflation data later.
Losses on the futures market were led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq, with a 0.55% slide, followed by declines of 0.3% for both the Dow Jones and S&P 500.
This follows a session where the S&P 500 notched another all-time high as it climbed above 6,500 for the first time, up 0.3%, bouyed by better news on US GDP than expected.
The Nasdaq rose 0.5% and the Dow added 0.2%.
Today's important macroeconomic number is the PCE price index, the measure that the Federal Reserve uses as its main inflation target.
The data printed at a 0.2% monthly gain for July, softer than the 0.3% the previous month, as expected.
Core PCE prices, which strip out food and energy, rose 0.3% on the month, again in line with forecasts.
Friday is the last day of the trading month for August, with the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq on track to post gains of 3.4%, 2.6% and 2.8% respectively.
They have been outperformed by the Russell 2000, on track for an August gain of 7.6%.
"This came as investors diversified their exposure into overlooked value stocks, which trade at much lower multiples than the market-leading tech giants," said market analyst David Morrison at Trade Nation.
US markets are closed on Monday for Labor Day, with Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth issuing some words of mild caution for the coming month as "September is a volatile month that usually ends a bit lower".