As it has for months, trade news continued to be a dominant theme for markets. The United States said it would resume trade negotiations with Canada after Ottawa halted plans to begin collecting a new digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms just hours before it was due to start.
The digital levy had caught the ire of President Trump last week, prompting the U.S. to cancel trade talks with Canada.
Focus was also on a looming July 9 deadline, the end of a pause on many of Trump's harsher trade tariffs. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned countries may not get extensions of that deadline, even if - as he suggested previously - they are negotiating in good faith.
The dollar continued to struggle on Monday, another theme for the year so far. The greenback marked its sixth straight month of losses against a basket of major currencies and the euro hit its highest level against the dollar in nearly four years.
Another first-half topic likely not going away anytime soon? Trump pressuring Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. White House reporters were told on Monday that Trump sent a handwritten note to Powell urging him to ease rates, the latest complaint the president has levied against the central bank chief.
To some extent, the pressure may be seeping into markets. Fed funds futures have indicated investors expect nearly three cuts this year, more than they did a few weeks ago. Treasury yields continued their recent descent, with the benchmark 10-year yield around 4.23%.
