Chelsea Clinton says U.S. corporations can 'absolutely' step up in international aid
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CNBC
3 hours ago
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: Trump's tariff letters set the heart racing, but don't seem to promise anything new
Paramours wanting to court each other have, through the decades, moved on from courtly love letters to raunchy Instagram DMs. But some form of that epistolary tradition remains today in the stately realm of politics. U.S. President Donald Trump revealed Monday that he had written letters to the leaders of 12 countries, informing them of new tariff rates due to begin on Aug. 1. Upon first reading, the letter is enough to send the heart racing. It contains bold emotional declarations ("You will never be disappointed with The United States of America"), big double-digit numbers (between 25% and 40%, depending on the recipient) and a veiled threat should desire not be reciprocated ("These tariffs may be modified … depending on our relationship with your Country"). But if we take a step back, it appears that he letters' purpose might not be that different from the table of "reciprocal" tariffs Trump hoisted up at the White House's Rose Garden in April. The letters threaten stiff tariffs that will kick in on a certain date (or as certain as any deadline from the White House can be), unless countries negotiate with the U.S. for a trade deal. Even the tariff numbers aren't that far from what was initially revealed. In other words, the letters might just be a restaging of April's events. "If you go through the details, I don't even know if anybody understands the difference between what was announced today, what was there previously, and if it will actually be implemented, and which companies it actually impacts," Trivariate Research CEO Adam Parker said Monday on CNBC's "Closing Bell." Trump on Sunday, in response to whether the deadline for tariffs will be changing, said, "They're going to be tariffs. The tariffs are going to be the tariffs." In the same way, a tariff is a tariff is a tariff, whether in a racy letter, stated on a big chart, or even sent in an Instagram DM. Steep tariffs on 14 countries. The White House sent letters to leaders of several countries announcing blanket tariffs ranging from 25% to 40% starting Aug. 1. Notably, U.S. imports from Japan and South Korea face a 25% duty. U.S. markets fall on stiff tariffs. All major U.S. indexes ended in the red in their worst day in almost a month. The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.44%. Oil and gas stocks fell after the OPEC+ alliance on Saturday agreed to a bigger-than-expected production increase. Tesla loses more than $68 billion in value. Shares of the electric vehicle maker tumbled 6.8% after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Saturday he was forming a new U.S. political party. Investors are worried about Musk heading deeper into politics. Samsung Electronics forecasts a 56% fall in profits. Second-quarter operating profit is expected to come in around 4.6 trillion Korean won ($3.3 billion), a steep decline from 10.44 trillion won a year ago. The firm's estimate is even lower than analyst expectations. [PRO] Safe spots in the Chinese market. While the China technology story hasn't changed enough to warrant major changes to portfolios, analysts are encouraging investors to be more conservative as they gear up for the second half. This Chinese jeweler is using traditional techniques to challenge Cartier — and it's starting in Singapore Laopu Gold opened its first overseas store in Singapore on June 21, just outside the Marina Bay Sands casino. During the first two weekends, wait times stretched from one to two hours, according to an employee. The Chinese jeweler has excited investors with its surging China sales — up 166% to 9.8 billion yuan ($1.37 billion) in 2024, according to its annual report. The company's shares have skyrocketed by well over 2,000% since its public offering price of HK$40.50 in Hong Kong in June 2024.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Americans Are Spending More on Luxe Jewelry While Decreasing Spending on Other Goods: Report
Maybe diamonds really are forever. A new Citigroup report found that despite a broader slowdown in U.S. luxury spending, affluent consumers are showing a marked preference for fine jewelry, CNBC reported. More from Robb Report Fancy Colored Diamond Prices Have Skyrocketed 205% Since 2005: Report One of the First Fully Blockchain-Certified High Jewelry Collections Is Here How Art Deco Style Continues to Influence Modern Jewelry Designs Based on credit card transaction data from more than 10 million U.S. cardholders, Citi found that while overall spending on high-end goods declined in the first five months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, jewelry sales have surged. Luxury spending in May 2025 dipped just 1.7 percent year over year, following much sharper drops of 6.8 percent in April and 8.5 percent in March. Amid this decline, jewelry performed stunningly, exceeding the sales of other upscale categories like handbags and ready-to-wear. According to Citigroup's analysis, luxury jewelry spending increased 10.1 percent in May compared to a year earlier, continuing a monthly growth trend that began in September 2024. Citi analyst Thomas Chauvet told CNBC that fine jewelry's surge can be credited to its perceived investment value and sentimental quality. 'When you have $3,000 to spend on luxury, you know, are you going to buy a piece of jewelry or a handbag for the same price?' he said. 'Perhaps the piece of jewelry gives you superior intrinsic value given the precious metals content and superior emotional value and meaning.' Chauvet also noted that coveted jewelers like Cartier have raised prices by less than 5 percent since the start of the year despite the cost of gold appreciating by over 25 percent, further incentivizing high-end jewelry purchases. Handbag brands, however, have increased prices as much as 30 percent to 40 percent since the pandemic with little to no tangible product improvements, according to Chauvet. Even though some top-tier jewelry brands lost 2.7 percent of their clientele, the consumers who remained spent 11.7 percent more on average. Jewelry was also the only product type to see an increase in individual customers as well as increases in average spend by customer. Meanwhile, luxury brands in other sectors, such as Hermès, saw a 0.2 percent increase in consumer spending since 2024. Chauvet also attributes the general decline of consumer spending, despite fine jewelry's success, to various political and economic factors in the country. Namely, the weak U.S. dollar, impending resumption of tariffs on global trade, and oil prices amid the Iran-Israel conflict all greatly effect how American consumers are spending their money and where. Click here to read the full article. Sign in to access your portfolio
CNBC
6 hours ago
- CNBC
Jim Cramer says Trump's latest round of tariffs isn't 'meaningful'
CNBC's Jim Cramer on Monday told investors that President Donald Trump's new slate of tariffs might not have staying power, and he cautioned against doing any major selling. "We no longer believe that the tariff numbers the president's throwing around are meaningful," Cramer said, referring to his outlook for the CNBC Investing Club's Chartable Trust. "They're just a starting point for negotiations with countries that really need access to our markets." Stocks sank during the day's session as investors recoiled after Trump announced steep tariffs on at least 14 countries set to take effect on Aug. 1. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.94% while the S&P 500 shed 0.79% and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.92%. In Monday Truth Social posts, the president shared screenshots of letters establishing new tariffs addressed to the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar. Later in the day, he shared more letters to the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tunisia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Serbia, Cambodia and Thailand. Cramer suggested that more sellers could emerge once the market digests these new tariffs, saying the market remains overbought. If more countries "refuse to play ball with President Trump on trade," they might also get letters from the White House, he said, something Wall Street does not want to see. But investors don't know whether to take the tariffs seriously, he said, as there has has been little consistency with new trade policies. The Trump administration has repeatedly postponed or reduced tariffs, he continued, and the new regulations could be lowered as part of negotiations. Cramer also suggested that the president's overall goal regarding tariffs isn't to build new plants domestically, but to sell more goods overseas. It will be "a bit of a problem" if the newly-announced tariffs are the final figures, Cramer said. But he added that few believe they will be, and he said they may not impact inflation or the Federal Reserve's decisions on interest rates as much as some investors expect. Aside from trade policy, Cramer said the measures in Trump's megabill — which the House of Representatives passed last week — matter to the market. Although the bill will add trillions to the national debt, he said it's full of provisions that will ignite the economy, like tax exemptions that could bring on a wave of construction. "I don't want to be glib. I know we're staring down the barrel of a tariff gun," he said. "But if I'm right that the president's game plan is really to help our manufacturers export more merchandise, it's hard to make the case that we need to do a really huge amount of selling here, unless you're ringing the register on something that's had a huge run, or something that's a dog and didn't move at all." Click here to download Jim Cramer's Guide to Investing at no cost to help you build long-term wealth and invest
