Stocks struggled for direction Thursday as market participants awaited more details on tariff negotiations between the U.S. and its trading partners.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a roughly 90-minute phone call to discuss trade between the two countries.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said it was “a very good talk,” and the two “straightened out” some complexities centered on “rare earths” and “other things.”

High-level representatives from the U.S. and China will meet again “shortly, according to Trump, to resume trade negotiations.

Signs of rising tensions between the two countries, following news of a short-term trade truce in mid-May, have sparked volatility in the markets.

And while today’s price action was up and down, moves were much more modest than we’ve experienced in recent months.

At the close, the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% at 42,319, the broader S&P 500 was off 0.5% at 5,939, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was 0.8% lower at 19,298.

Tesla sinks as Musk-Trump rift widens

Tesla (TSLA) was one of the biggest decliners on Thursday, spiraling 14.3% as the split between Trump and Elon Musk grew.

The Tesla CEO recently ended his cost-cutting efforts in Washington, D.C., in order to turn his attention back to his companies.

While Musk seemingly left on good terms with Trump, his recent criticism of the president’s “big, beautiful” tax bill has shined light on a widening rift between the two.

For his part, Musk posted on X that the spending bill is a “disgusting abomination” that will bankrupt America.

Trump replied with his own post on Truth Social today, writing that he took away an “EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars,” and Elon “just went CRAZY!”

Circle stock soars after IPO

Circle Internet Group (CRCL) had a strong first day of trading, opening at $69 on Thursday.

The stablecoin issuer priced its initial public offering (IPO) late Wednesday at $31 per share – above its prior range of $27 to $28 – and the crypto stock reached an intraday high of $103.75 before settling at $83.23.

Cryptocurrency is in an upswing right thanks to supportive measures from the Trump administration.

And CRCL could get an additional boost if Congress passes the GENIUS Act – a bill aimed at creating a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

The successful offering also bodes well for mobile banking platform Chime, which will price its upcoming IPO this Wednesday, June 11, according to Fortune, and begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “CHYM” on Thursday, June 12.

Jobless claims come in hot

Data from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 last week to 247,000, more than the 236,000 economists expected.

This is just the latest sign of a cooling labor market and comes ahead of tomorrow morning’s release of the May jobs report.

The data are expected to show the U.S. added 125,000 nonfarm payrolls in April.

Job growth has been a tailwind for the U.S. economy, says Scott Helfstein, head of investment at Global X, and this makes Friday’s report “particularly important in the battle of hard fundamental data versus high frequency survey data.”

Related content