Why the Latest US-China Deal Leaves Investors Holding Their Breath A collective, yet cautious, sigh of relief echoed through global markets this week as the United States and China announced their latest trade truce. The news offers a glimmer of hope that a lasting resolution can be forged, pulling the world’s two largest economies back from the brink of a full-blown tariff war. However, beneath the surface of the diplomatic handshake lies a troubling ambiguity, leaving seasoned investors to ask: Is this a genuine breakthrough or just the eye of the storm?   On the face of it, the deal carries tangible wins. President Donald Trump declared the deal “done,” highlighting China’s commitment to supply crucial rare earth minerals while the U.S. agrees to maintain access for Chinese students to its universities. China’s Vice Commerce Minister, Li Chenggang, confirmed that a framework for ongoing negotiations has been established. Yet, the market’s reaction was far from euphoric. Wall Street edged lower, and the dollar slipped. While Chinese stocks saw a modest gain, the tepid response underscores a deep-seated skepticism. The reason

What’s Next After Trump’s Trade War Truce with China? President Donald Trump’s recent agreement to temporarily ease tariffs on Chinese goods has provided a brief moment of relief for global markets. But beneath the headlines, uncertainty continues to loom large — and the long-term economic consequences may already be unfolding. A Temporary Ceasefire in the U.S.-China Trade War Over the weekend, U.S. and Chinese negotiators met in Switzerland and reached a temporary deal The U.S. agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. China, in turn, lowered its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods from 125% to 10%. President Trump declared the agreement a victory and announced plans to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping about maintaining stability in the economic relationship between the world’s two largest economies. Despite the de-escalation, tariffs remain significantly higher than when Trump first took office. Investors, CEOs, and consumers are now grappling with an uncertain outlook that complicates business decisions and discourages risk-taking. A New Tariff Baseline: 10% Is Here to Stay The current truce does not mark a return to pre-Trump trade policy. The

The prospect of the U.S. introducing a swathe of new tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump has led economists to say the euro could return to parity with the U.S. dollar in their 2025 outlooks. Since Trump’s decisive victory in the Nov. 5 election, which also handed the Republican party control of both houses of Congress, the U.S. dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies  has soared to its highest level in a year.A proposed 10% universal tariff on all imports and a 60% tariff on goods from China along with Trump’s plans to cut taxes and curtail immigration are broadly expected to drive inflationary pressures in the U.S.That would cause the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at a slower pace than expected, and to exercise more caution in the short-term.  Higher interest rates generally support a currency.Just as the Federal Reserve may proceed with rate cuts more slowly and boost the dollar, the European Central Bank may now ease monetary policy even more than it otherwise would have amid the “economic blow of slowing exports,”  A number

Lawrence O’Donnell flipped the script on Donald Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk to the not-yet-officially-existent Department of Government Efficiency, with the bitterly anti-Trump MSNBC anchor calling it not a promotion – but a “humiliating demotion” for the X owner and Tesla CEO.   “Donald Trump announced he would give Elon Musk a job that does not exist and will last, at most, 18 months,” O’Donnell said Tuesday night.” Worst of all, Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, was assigned a working partner who, like Musk, has never worked in government before: Vivek Ramaswamy, who isn’t even a billionaire.” O’Donnell didn’t clarify why Ramaswamy’s relative wealth was relevant, but also mocked Musk for not getting “his own press release from Donald Trump,” noting that he had to “share” it with the millionaire. U.S. & World News Latest national and global stories California man to be sentenced for hate crime in the killing of a gay college student UK economic growth slows down sharply in the third quarter Irish PM’s party holds six-point lead in first campaign poll “Musk got

American voters have chosen Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, handing him a commanding victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.   A call in the state of Wisconsin in favor of Trump by the Associated Press on Wednesday morning put him over the top, with Trump now set to have the distinction of being the 45th and the 47th US president.”This was, I believe, the greatest political movement of all time,” he told supporters early Wednesday morning as he neared victory. “And now it’s going to reach a new level of importance.”  The former president was powered by strong support among men and an intense voter focus on inflation that has been evident in nearly every poll in the years since consumer inflation peaked at a 9.1% annual rate in June 2022.     “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” Trump also said on Wednesday, noting his win in the electoral college and his lead, as of Wednesday morning, in the popular vote.       Inflation has moderated in recent years, but

Investors are expecting the wealth of Americans to rise under both a Harris or Trump presidencybut specify different asset classes will perform better depending on who is in the Oval Office.The survey carried out by Bloomberg found outlooks for the stock market are bright. Under a Harris presidency 45% of investors believed the market would either continue or accelerate its 2% monthly gains so far this year. Under a Trump presidency they believed the markets would fair even better, with 38% of respondents saying they’d expect to see an acceleration in market growth and 21% expecting returns to stay the same.This rosy outlook bodes well for the American public, with approximately 60% of households owning directly or indirectly publicly-traded shares according to Pew Research. Different asset classes for each candidate But stocks aren’t the only area where Americans could see a boost to their wealth. The survey of 350 respondents made up of economists,portfolio managers and investors believe certain asset classes will boom under either candidate.A Democratic administration would bode better   for assets like housing, the respondents believe.The average