Stocks closed lower on Friday and for the week last week.

Two Friday morning comments by President Trump weighed on the markets. The first was that he might impose a 25% tariff on Apple for iPhones sold in the U.S. that are not made in the U.S. The second, that he was "recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union."

Stocks opened lower on the news. They recovered a portion throughout the day and finished off their intraday lows. But lower nonetheless.

Those comments came as a bit of a surprise given the exemptions the President had talked about last month, which included smartphones, semiconductors, and other electronic components and devices coming from China. Apple has been moving operation from China to other countries including India and Vietnam and others. It's unclear if those exemptions on goods from China would remain exempt or not. Or if the threatened 25% tariffs would be on those products just from countries other than China. Either way, it definitely caught the market off guard.

Then came the comments on the EU. Another surprise given the recent deal with the U.K., the 90-day agreement with China, not to mention reports out of Beijing on Thursday that communication on U.S./China trade talks have shown progress.

So the comments on the EU also caught the market off guard. We learned later that the White House was not happy with how those talks were going, with the President saying they have been "very difficult to deal with." And that, he was "not looking for a deal."

After sharp comments on tariffs, which have often been followed by softer comments on tariffs, it's possible the market didn't know how to react to those developments. Was this part of the negotiating tactic? Or were these comments the new position?

We shall see in the coming days and weeks.

Although, we might have gotten our answer on Sunday after President Trump agreed to an extension on the 50% tariffs that were due to hit on the 1^st of June, and extending them to July 9^th, following a call from the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Ms. Leyen said that she and Mr. Trump had a "good call," adding that "to reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9." Sunday night futures were up on the news. We will see how this news plays out the rest of the week.

Prior to that, we had heard some good news from Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy, when he said there's been no decrease in consumer demand or increase in prices. Specifically, he said, "we have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point. We also haven't yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases."

That's good news. Especially in the wake of Walmart's recent comments that they might have to increase prices because of tariffs.

All in all, the worst of the tariff news definitely looks to be behind us.

But it's clear that it's not all going to be smooth sailing for every country or company for that matter.

A few trade deal announcements in the coming weeks would put the market back on a positive trajectory. Or some progress regarding trade talks with the EU.

Either way, there's plenty to be excited about with the markets. But a little more clarity or progress on trade deals with more countries would go a long way.

See you tomorrow,