U.S. stocks are drifting near their record heights as Wall Street waits for an upcoming update on inflation. The S&P 500 was little changed in early trading Monday and flirting with its all-time high set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 39 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 0.2%, coming off its own record. The highlight of this week for Wall Street is likely to arrive on Tuesday, when the government will report how bad inflation was across the country in July. European markets were mixed, and Asian markets closed mostly higher overnight. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% lower to 24,127.50, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.2% to 7,728.58. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2% to 9,114.27. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong edged 0.2% higher to 24,906.81, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.3% to 3,647.55. Triple digit tariffs threatened by Trump and by Beijing were paused for 90 days in May to allow time for trade talks. Tuesday is the deadline for extending that truce. The last round of negotiations, held last month in Stockholm, ended without a clear word from Trump on whether the deadline would be extended for another 90 days. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.5%, helped by a 0.4% climb for TSMC, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computer chips. Analysts said the company’s shares are seen as a proxy for big U.S. semiconductor makers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Unconfirmed reports said those companies had agreed to pay the U.S. government a 15% share of their revenues from sales to China of their chips used for artificial intelligence. The Trump administration recently relaxed restrictions on sales of some chips to China. In pre-market trading early Monday, Nvidia’s shares were down 0.6% while AMD’s lost 1.7%. Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 8,844.80, while the Kospi in South Korea slipped 0.1% to 3,206.77. Markets in Japan and Thailand were closed for holidays. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Dow industrials gained 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite added 1% to the record it set a day earlier. Technology companies, with their hefty stock values, did much of the heavy lifting for the market. Nvidia rose 1.1% and Apple gained 4.2%. Gilead Sciences jumped 8.3% for one of the market’s biggest gains after reporting financial results that easily beat analysts’ forecasts, while also raising its earnings forecast for the year. Expedia Group rose 4.1% after also reporting encouraging financial results. They are among the final big batch of companies within the S&P 500 to report mostly strong financial results for the second quarter. Still, many have warned that current tariffs could cut into their profits. Elsewhere in the market, entertainment giant Paramount Skydance slid 10.5% a day after the company was created by the closing of Skydance and Paramount. Shares in rival Warner Bros. Discovery sank 8%. Investors will get more insight this week on U.S. inflation at both the consumer and wholesale levels and on retail sales. Trump’s trade war and its potential impact on the U.S. economy and on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy are a focus after the U.S. began on dozens of countries last Thursday. Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher. Concerns about inflation reheating could be overshadowed by worries about a weakening employment market. In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 16 cents to $63.72 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, declined 9 cents to $66.50 per barrel. The U.S. dollar climbed to 147.69 Japanese yen from 147.62 yen. The euro fell $1.1641 from $1.1650.

World shares are mixed ahead of Trump's deadline for imposing higher tariffs on Chinese goods

Global stock markets showed mixed performance as investors awaited a U.S. inflation report and the potential extension of a 90-day pause on proposed triple-digit tariffs between the U.S. and China. The S&P 500 remained near its record high, while the Dow rose slightly and the Nasdaq dipped slightly. European and Asian markets were generally stable or slightly positive, with notable gains in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Analysts noted that U.S. semiconductor companies like Nvidia and AMD are under scrutiny due to potential revenue-sharing agreements with the U.S. government for sales to China. Gilead Sciences and Expedia Group reported strong financial results, boosting their stock prices. Paramount Skydance shares fell sharply after its formation, while Warner Bros. Discovery declined. Markets remain focused on inflation data, trade policy developments, and their potential impact on interest rates and economic growth.