Strong bank earnings seem to overshadow escalating trade war
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks as he and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer hold a press conference on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C., U.S., Oct. 15, 2025.
Ken Cedeno | Reuters
China has been using its dominance in the rare earth industry to slash prices, driving foreign competitors out, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Wednesday stateside in an exclusive interview. He characterized the country as having “a nonmarket economy.”
In response, the Trump administration will “exercise industrial policy” to set price floors in a range of industries. Price floors are a limit of how low suppliers can charge for goods or services. They are typically set above the market rate and are essentially a form of government price control.
Meanwhile, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley reported blockbuster second-quarter earnings that shot way past analyst expectations. They joined other major U.S. banks, such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, in ihaving a blowout quarter that was turbocharged by robust dealmaking and stock market highs.
And despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued saber-rattling at China on the trade front, traders don’t seem ready to let go of equities. On Wednesday stateside, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose, and the Russell 2000 hit a fresh record. After all, earnings reports are indicating that the economy isn’t yet faltering, despite firms already experiencing higher costs because of tariffs, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Beige Book.
Whether traders continue pushing equities to new highs amid fractious trade relations with China will depend, in part, on the earnings of major technology companies such as Tesla and Intel due next week.
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And finally…
UAE National Security Advisor, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House on March 18, 2025.
Courtesy: Donald J. Trump | Via Truth Social
The Abu Dhabi investor that’s funding AI while trying to save TikTok — with help from Trump
Backed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund and launched in March 2024, MGX has emerged as a key source of capital as companies race to build out the enormous computing power needed to meet expected AI demand.
Certain transactions suggest a level of coziness with Trump.
Earlier this year, MGX reportedly provided $2 billion in funding to the crypto exchange Binance, using a cryptocurrency purchased from the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial. Its chairman Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan also visited Trump in the White House this spring to announce a $1.4 trillion investment in the U.S. over the next decade.
— Steve Kovach
Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose on Wednesday stateside. An earlier version did not specify which indexes rose.
