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Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Japan's PM Ishiba says he will stay in office despite election loss
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said he will stay in office to tackle challenges such as rising prices and high US tariffs after a weekend election defeat left his coalition with a minority in both parliamentary chambers. Mr Ishiba's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner Komeito were three seats short of maintaining a majority in the 248-seat upper house in Sunday's vote. The coalition is now a minority in both houses of the Diet, or parliament, though the LDP is still the leading party. Mr Ishiba said he takes the result seriously but that his priority is to avoid creating a political vacuum and to tackle impending challenges, including the August 1 deadline for a tariff deal with the US. 'While I painfully feel my serious responsibility over the election results, I believe I must also fulfil my responsibility I bear for the country and the people so as not to cause politics to stall or go adrift,' Mr Ishiba said. 'Challenges such as global situation and natural disaster won't wait for a better political situation.' The prime minister said he hopes to reach a mutually beneficial deal and meet with US President Donald Trump. Sunday's vote comes after Mr Ishiba's coalition lost a majority in the October lower house election, stung by past corruption scandals, and his unpopular government has since been forced into making concessions to the opposition to get legislation through parliament. It has been unable to quickly deliver effective measures to mitigate rising prices, including Japan's traditional staple of rice, and dwindling wages. Mr Trump has added to the pressure, complaining about a lack of progress in trade negotiations and the lack of sales of US cars and American-grown rice to Japan despite a shortfall in domestic stocks of the grain. A 25% tariff due to take effect on August 1 has been another blow for Mr Ishiba.
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures inch higher ahead of tech earnings as tariff deadline looms
US stock futures rose early Monday morning, as markets entered a critical week defined by megacap earnings and continued risk around President Trump's looming tariffs. S&P 500 (ES=F) futures climbed 0.2%, contracts on the Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) gained 0.3%, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) inched up 0.1%, reflecting a cautious tone after last week's record-setting rally in growth names. The Nasdaq advanced 1.5% last week, while the S&P 500 added 0.6%. The Dow lagged, finishing slightly negative. Investor focus is dominated by two topics for the upcoming week: policy clarity on trade and earnings from tech heavyweights. On Sunday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reaffirmed the White House's Aug. 1 deadline for new tariffs, calling it a "hard stop" for compliance — before saying that he's looking at continued conversation beyond that date. Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs Meanwhile, earnings season shifts into high gear with Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA) set to report Wednesday. These names are the first among the so-called "Magnificent Seven" to report this quarter. Strong results could validate stretched valuations as the market's focus on AI growth is beginning to attract comparisons to historic tech bubbles. Of the 59 S&P 500 companies that have already reported, 86% have beaten consensus, a historically strong beat rate, albeit off modest expectations. Read more: Full earnings coverage in our live blog On the macro front, the June Leading Economic Index is set for release Monday. The data will be closely watched for signs of deceleration or stabilization following a string of weak reads. Also on deck Monday: Earnings from Verizon Communications (VZ), Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF), and Domino's Pizza (DPZ). TSMC rides AI wave over trillion-dollar crest Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s market value has pushed over $1 trillion for the first time in the company's history. The chip-manufacturing giant has seen its stock price double in the past year, reaching an all-time high Friday. Bloomberg reports: The main supplier of chips to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) saw it shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50% rise from an April low. The company's market capitalization now rivals that of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with further gains potentially putting it among the world's 10 biggest companies by value. TSMC's stock surge reflected growing investor confidence that the world's top chipmaker will ride the AI boom to even greater dominance. The company raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to about 30% last week, signaling TSMC may benefit in a tightening race for AI manufacturing capacity. 'We think that TSMC's tone towards advanced node demand is even more positive with AI customers showing no signs of demand slowdown,' wrote Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Bruce Lu after TSMC's quarterly earnings. 'We expect to see a higher magnitude of price hike in 2026.' Read more here. Oil prices hold stead with Russia sanctions in focus Oil prices remained little changed overnight Sunday with geopolitical tensions impacting supply concerns. Russia is facing sanctions on oil production as a result of the countries war with Ukraine. Reuters reports: Read more here. TSMC rides AI wave over trillion-dollar crest Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s market value has pushed over $1 trillion for the first time in the company's history. The chip-manufacturing giant has seen its stock price double in the past year, reaching an all-time high Friday. Bloomberg reports: The main supplier of chips to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) saw it shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50% rise from an April low. The company's market capitalization now rivals that of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with further gains potentially putting it among the world's 10 biggest companies by value. TSMC's stock surge reflected growing investor confidence that the world's top chipmaker will ride the AI boom to even greater dominance. The company raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to about 30% last week, signaling TSMC may benefit in a tightening race for AI manufacturing capacity. 'We think that TSMC's tone towards advanced node demand is even more positive with AI customers showing no signs of demand slowdown,' wrote Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Bruce Lu after TSMC's quarterly earnings. 'We expect to see a higher magnitude of price hike in 2026.' Read more here. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s market value has pushed over $1 trillion for the first time in the company's history. The chip-manufacturing giant has seen its stock price double in the past year, reaching an all-time high Friday. Bloomberg reports: The main supplier of chips to Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) saw it shares climb to a record high on Friday, a near 50% rise from an April low. The company's market capitalization now rivals that of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with further gains potentially putting it among the world's 10 biggest companies by value. TSMC's stock surge reflected growing investor confidence that the world's top chipmaker will ride the AI boom to even greater dominance. The company raised its full-year revenue growth forecast to about 30% last week, signaling TSMC may benefit in a tightening race for AI manufacturing capacity. 'We think that TSMC's tone towards advanced node demand is even more positive with AI customers showing no signs of demand slowdown,' wrote Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Bruce Lu after TSMC's quarterly earnings. 'We expect to see a higher magnitude of price hike in 2026.' Read more here. Oil prices hold stead with Russia sanctions in focus Oil prices remained little changed overnight Sunday with geopolitical tensions impacting supply concerns. Russia is facing sanctions on oil production as a result of the countries war with Ukraine. Reuters reports: Read more here. Oil prices remained little changed overnight Sunday with geopolitical tensions impacting supply concerns. Russia is facing sanctions on oil production as a result of the countries war with Ukraine. Reuters reports: Read more here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chinese exports of two critical minerals plunge even as rare earths rebound
By Lewis Jackson BEIJING (Reuters) -China's exports of two critical minerals used in weapons, telecommunications and solar cells have plunged over the past three months amid a crackdown on smuggling and transshipment that has involved China's top spy agency. Exports of antimony and germanium in June were down 88% and 95%, respectively, versus January, according to customs data published on Sunday. Much as with rare earths, China is by far the largest miner and or refiner for both elements. Both were added to an export control list in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Exports to the U.S. were then banned in December as part of retaliation for chip restrictions. Rare earths were added to the same control list in April, precipitating a sharp collapse in export volumes that forced some carmakers in Europe and the U.S. to pause some production lines. But where rare earth export volumes rebounded sharply last month thanks to a deal struck between Washington and Beijing, exports of germanium and antimony fell to some of the lowest levels on record. The collapse in export volumes coincides with well-publicised crackdown on critical mineral export control evasion. China's spy agency said last week it had detected attempts to bypass controls via transshipment, where cargoes move through a third country before going on to their final destination. The week before Reuters reported that unusually large quantities of antimony were being exported to the United States from Thailand and Mexico in what appeared to be transshipment conducted by at least one Chinese company. China's exports of antimony to Thailand have collapsed by 90% after hitting a record in April. There have been no exports to Mexico since April. Spot market prices for high-purity germanium have more than doubled since China imposed export restrictions in July 2023. Antimony prices have nearly quadrupled from May last year.
