China's Grid Looks Ready for Searing Heat After Heavy Investment
Welcome to our guide to the commodities markets powering the global economy. Today, energy reporter Dan Murtaugh looks at how years of heavy investment have safeguarded China's electricity grid from summer demand spikes.
Scorching weather in China is highlighting how the world's biggest green transition is paying dividends when it comes to energy security.
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US and China agree framework deal to extend trade war truce
The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war after two days of talks in London that resulted in a 'framework' deal over export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors. Negotiations to resolve the wider tariff war triggered by Donald Trump in April will continue but the truce settles, for now, growing tension between the two economic super-powers. The talks, which broke up at about midnight UK time after more than 20 hours of discussions over two days, were led by the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, alongside the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and the trade representative, Jamieson Greer. Lutnick expressed optimism on Tuesday that concerns about critical or rare earth' minerals and magnets, which are vital to a range of industries including cars, electronics and defence, would be resolved as the deal was implemented. The wider dispute, triggered by Trump's decision to impose triple-digit tariffs on Chinese imports in April – since eased to a baseline 30% – has yet to be resolved with China's exports to the US plunging 35% year on year in May. Both sides had accused each other of reneging on a preliminary trade deal struck in Geneva last month to ease retaliatory tariffs, with China putting restrictions on exports of rare earths and the US continuing curbs on semiconductor exports. But the trade war has already caused damage on both sides, whatever the positioning and rhetoric. China's exports to the US plunged 35% year on year in May. The choked global supply of rare earths, which China controls, was already threatening to halt production in the automotive sector this summer on both sides of the Atlantic, with permanent magnets used in everything from windscreen wipers to doors. China's delegation was headed up by the vice-premier He Lifeng – a seasoned negotiator at the top of the Chinese government who had also led talks in Geneva. Lutnick told reporters that Tuesday's framework put 'meat on the bones' of the Geneva deal. Its implementation had faltered over China's curbs on critical mineral exports. The deal also would remove some US export restrictions that were recently put in place, Lutnick said. 'We have reached a framework to implement the Geneva consensus and the call between the two presidents,' Lutnick said. 'The idea is we're going to go back and speak to President Trump and make sure he approves it. They're going to go back and speak to President Xi and make sure he approves it, and if that is approved, we will then implement the framework.' Related: China accuses Pete Hegseth of sowing division in Asia in speech 'filled with provocations' In a separate briefing, China's vice commerce minister Li Chenggang said a trade framework had been reached that would be taken back to US and Chinese leaders. There was a cautious welcome from investors and analysts. 'At least now there's a bottom line that neither side is willing to cross,' said Mark Dong, a co-founder of Minority Asset Management in Hong Kong. Deutsche Bank's note to clients on Wednesday was more sceptical. 'So while the mood music has stayed positive, investors may be wary of the pattern that emerged during the previous US-China trade talks in 2018-19, when apparently constructive in-person meetings seemed to take a step back as the negotiating teams returned to their capitals.' Lutnick said China's restrictions on exports of critical minerals and magnets to the US would be resolved as a 'fundamental' part of the framework agreement. 'Also, there were a number of measures the United States of America put on when those rare earths were not coming,' Lutnick said. 'You should expect those to come off, sort of as President Trump said, in a balanced way.' Li said: 'Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid.' Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Sign in to access your portfolio
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an hour ago
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US stocks end up, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq records despite terminated Canada trade talks
U.S. stocks ended higher, with the broad S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing to record closes on trade optimism. Sentiment was dented slightly and only briefly in the afternoon after President Donald Trump said on social media trade talks with Canada were terminated, effective immediately, over a digital services tax on U.S. tech firms. "We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period," Trump wrote. Canada is the U.S.' second largest trading partner. The blue-chip Dow closed up 1%, or 432.43 points, to 43,819.27, while the S&P 500 gained 0.52%, or 32.11 points, to 6,173.13 and the Nasdaq rose 0.52%, or 105.54 points, to 20,273.46. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq had been within striking distance of their record highs for the past couple of days but hadn't mustered enough energy to hurdle them until now. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield inched up to 4.275%. Stocks jumped at the open on trade deal optimism after Trump said the U.S. finalized a deal with China. The final China deal includes a commitment from China to deliver rare earths used in everything from wind turbines to jet planes, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Bloomberg. It also includes easier tech restrictions, said China's Ministry of Commerce. Lutnick also said the U.S. was nearing agreements with ten other trading partners. Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Lutnick expressed confidence a deal between the EU and U.S. coud be struck soon, according to Bloomberg. Lutnick said the EU had picked up the pace of negotiations in recent weeks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Fox Business he expected trade deals with 18 key trading partners to be wrapped up by Labor Day in September, suggesting Trump's early July deadline would be extended and higher tariffs wouldn't kick in yet. Stocks also found support from economic data. Americans felt better in June than in May, according to the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey. Its sentiment reading rose to 16.3% to 60.7 in June from May. Most of the improvement came as people's inflation expectations fell. Before the opening bell, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, or personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, also rose 2.3% annually, as expected. The so-called core rate excluding food and energy, rose 2.7%, slightly higher than the 2.6% mean forecast. The "inflation report shouldn't be enough to give markets a significant scare, but it probably dashes the slim hopes investors had for a July rate cut," said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at trading platform eToro. Meanwhile PCE, a measure of consumer spending, fell 0.3% in May from the prior month after adjusting for inflation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That was the first decline this year. "This weakness is probably primarily just payback from the jump in spending earlier this year as consumers tried to buy goods ahead of the tariffs," said Greg Wilensky, head of U.S. fixed income and portfolio manager at Janus Henderson. "The weakness in spending was on the goods side while spending on services increased." Nike's quarterly results topped analysts' expectations but the company warned tariffs are expected to increase its costs by $1 billion this fiscal year. It said it will pass some costs on to consumers and cut costs to deal with the added expense. Its sales outlook for the first three months of its fiscal year was better than forecasts. Shares of the mega sportswear company jumped 15.19%. CorMedix plans to sell $85 million of stock in a public offering. Shares slumped 16.44%. Shares of credit bureau companies closed mixed after Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said in a social media post all credit bureaus were under review. Bakkt Holdings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $1 billion in securities to potentially buy bitcoin and other digital assets. Bitcoin last rose 0.02% to $106,975. (This story was updated with new information.) Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@ and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: S&P 500,Nasdaq hit record high although Trump ends Canada trade talks Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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an hour ago
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Why Shares in Synopsys Popped Higher Today
Investors warmed to the stock today on news of thawing tensions in the U.S./China trading relationship. It's far from clear whether there will be any direct benefit to Synopsys from the latest agreement. 10 stocks we like better than Synopsys › Shares in electronic design automation (EDA) company Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS) were up by more than 5% at 10 a.m. ET today. The positive developments came after officials from China and the U.S. confirmed that a new trade framework had been agreed upon between the two countries. A thawing in the trade war with China matters to Synopsys for two main reasons. First, the company was forced to suspend its third-quarter and full-year guidance after the U.S. Department of Commerce applied new export restrictions that impacted Synopsys' ability to sell solutions to China. Second, China's market regulator has postponed approval of a merger between Synopsys and Ansys. Both issues are highly significant. In the first six months of its fiscal 2025, Synopsys generated almost 11% of its sales from China. Turning to the Ansys deal, it's a critical part of management's growth plans. The aim is to integrate Synopsys EDA solutions with Ansys' engineering simulation solutions, offering customers the software to design semiconductor chips (which are increasingly being embedded in a broad range of industries) alongside the engineering simulation software that observes how these products behave in the real world. The deal would also open up Synopsys' solutions to the broader range of customers that Ansys has in areas such as automotive, aerospace, and industrial. As yet, there's no sign that the restrictions on EDA exports to China are being lifted, and it's unclear whether China is deliberately holding back approval of the merger as a bargaining chip. As such, it's far from clear how the new framework will change matters for Synopsys. Still, a de-escalation is a step in the right direction and may bring a satisfactory resolution to these issues a bit closer for Synopsys. Before you buy stock in Synopsys, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Synopsys wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $704,676!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $950,198!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 175% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Synopsys. The Motley Fool recommends Ansys. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Shares in Synopsys Popped Higher Today was originally published by The Motley Fool
