April 24, 2025 | Daily JAM |
President Donald Trump said his administration is talking with China on trade. This came after Beijing denied the existence of negotiations on a deal and demanded the United States revoke all unilateral tariffs. “They had a meeting this morning,” Trump said Thursday during a meeting with Norway’s prime minister when a reporter asked about the Chinese statement. Pressed on which administration officials were involved in discussions, President Trump said, “it doesn’t matter who ‘they’ is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning, and we’ve been meeting with China.” Not so, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman He Yadong said Thursday.
April 24, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Yesterday stocks rallied for a second day on “news” that President Donald Trump was considering plans to cut tariffs on China’s goods. The Wall Street Journal reported that under the proposals, the range could come down to between 50% to 65%–from the current 145%–as a result of a tiered approach that would see 35% levies on items not considered critical for national security and 100% on “national security” goods.“We’re going to have a fair deal with China,” President Trump told reporters on Wednesday. On Tuesday President Trump had said he’d be willing to “substantially” pare back his 145% tariffs on China. He turned down his aggressive rhetoric a day after meeting with executives from Walmart, Home Depot. and Target, who said import taxes could disrupt supply chains and raise the prices of goods., according to people familiar with the matter. I understand why stocks rallied on these reports. Investors and CEOs are all scared that these tariffs will reignite inflation and send the economy toward recession. The rally on these reports is a sign of how deeply worried financial markets are at this posibility. And how much markets want to believe in a change of course. But because of the intensity of that hope Wall Street and, especially, retail investors, are overlooking the “fine print” in these announcements.
April 21, 2025 | BA, Daily JAM |
Last week China’s government asked Chinese airlines to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from American companies like Boeing. China holds about 20% of the expected global demand for aircraft over the next two decades. President Donald Trump this month raised baseline tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%. In retaliation, China imposed a 125% tariff on US goods.
On Sunday a Boeing 737 Max jet intended for a China’s Xiamen Airlines landed back at the plane maker’s U.S. production hub. The plane was one of several 737 MAX jets–Boeing’s bestselling model–that had been waiting at Boeing’s Zhoushan completion centre for final work and delivery. Boeing’s order book had 130 planes scheduled for delivery to Chinese companies at the end of March for both commercial airlines and leasing firms, Airways Mag reports.
April 20, 2025 | Daily JAM |
I expect more opinions and some additional data on when the Trump tariffs will hit U.S. and global economic growth. And how big the hit will be.
April 16, 2025 | AMZN, Daily JAM, Top 50 Stocks, Videos |
Today’s Quick Pick is Amazon.com (AMZN)–despite the current tariff panic. While the stock is down due to the broad market sell-off and concerns over tariffs impacting its supply chain, I believe Amazon’s size and logistical power will help it mitigate these challenges. The company can pressure suppliers, adjust pricing algorithms, and shift sourcing to keep costs lower than competitors, potentially gaining an edge as inflation rises. Though these advantages may not be evident in the upcoming April earnings report, I expect Amazon to emerge stronger in the long term, making it a compelling buy once the market shifts from indiscriminate selling to evaluating winners and losers.
April 16, 2025 | AMD, AVGO, Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, MRVL, NVDA, QCOM |
Just days after Nvidia and otherrchip stocks rallied on news that thee Trump Administration would pause tariffs on chips and electronic goods, the White House has informed the company it would require a special license for exports of its H20 chips. The H20 chips were designed especially for the Chinese market in an effort to comply with U.S. restrictions on chip exports to China. No licenses for shipments into China have ever been granted, given the US government’s concern that the chips could be used to build AI supercomputers in the country, so the new rules are effectively a ban.
Shares of Nvidia closed down 6.87% today, April 16
April 14, 2025 | Daily JAM |
President Donald Trump is pressing ahead with plans to impose tariffs on semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports. Notices Monday in the Federal Register said the Commerce Department would investigate the impact on U.S. national security of “imports of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment” as well as “pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical ingredients, including finished drug products.”
April 14, 2025 | Daily JAM |
Goldman Sachs has taken a look at how difficult it would be for U.S. companies to find alternatives to Chinese sources of supply in a global trade/tariff war. And the picture isn’t very pretty.
April 14, 2025 | Daily JAM |
When the House and Senate convene again on April 28, Republicans will test whether the extremely precarious deals they sort of hammered out before leaving town will hold up so that they can deliver President Donald Trump’s big beautiful spending bill (for the 2025 fiscal year that started in October 2024) with its $5.5 trillion or so in tax cuts, its money for border and immigration crackdowns, and an increase in the debt ceiling. How shaky are those deals? The Washington Post this morning put together a detailed list of examples that show how little actual agreement there is between the House and the Senate.
April 13, 2025 | Daily JAM |
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday the administration’s decision to exclude smartphones, computers and other popular electronic items from reciprocal tariffs was just temporary. The items will be subject to “semiconductor tariffs, expected to be implemented in “a month or two,” Lutnick said in an interview with ABC. “All those products are going to come under semiconductors, and they’re going to have a special focus type of tariff to make sure that those products get reshored.” President Donald Trump on Friday exempted a host of consumer electronic devices from reciprocal tariffs that include 125% tariffs on Chinese imports and 10% baseline tariffs on other countries. President Trump himself on Sunday posted that phones, computers and other popular electronic items will still be hit by tariffs.
April 12, 2025 | Daily JAM |
Late Friday, April 11, the Trump administration announced that smartphones, computers and other electronic components are exempt from reciprocal tariffs, days after the United States imposed the highest levies on foreign goods in a century.
April 11, 2025 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
China retaliated against President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs by hiking duties on all U.S. goods. Beijing will raise tariffs on all U.S. goods to 125% from 84% starting April 12, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday, after the White House clarified that levies on Chinese goods rose to 145% this year. This will be the last increase in tariffs from China–which, it turns out, isn’t because China has decided to be kind. “Given that American goods are no longer marketable in China under the current tariff rates, if the United States further raises tariffs on Chinese exports, China will disregard such measures,” according to the statement from the Ministry of Finance. Tariffs are now at levels set to halt most all trade between the world’s biggest economies.
