President Trump announced tariffs on Chinese imports Thursday, reigniting fears of a trade war and sending jitters through the the stock market.
“Even though this has been out there, the big worry is what’s the next shoe to drop,” said Daniel Ives, Chief Strategy Officer at GBH Insights.
The tariffs are aimed at curbing what Trump calls “a tremendous intellectual property theft problem.”
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer now has 15 days to identify $50 billion worth of imports to tax, with a focus on technology products.
Many experts and investors fear that China will retaliate, impacting companies like Boeing that have carved large markets in China.
This move comes shortly after Trump levied taxes on imported steel and aluminium, angering allies around the world, including Canada and the EU.
Lighthizer signaled on Thursday that most of those allies will now be exempt from the metals tariffs, seeming to send a clear signal that much of Trump’s protectionist policies are squarely crafted with China in mind.
Overall, Chinese companies may have more to lose from these recent IP tariffs than U.S. tech companies, said Ives. He pointed out that, other than Amazon, revenue from China is negligible for most companies.
In addition to the tariff news, the markets were still reacting to Facebook’s privacy scandal.
The social media giant “continues to be that dark cloud over tech stocks,” said Ives.
“[It’s] been a lot of angst amongst investors we’ve been talking to.”
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
