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Stocks are climbing on Wall Street Monday and pulling near their records following last weeks roller-coaster ride. The S&P 500 rose 1% and got back within 0.4% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 358 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher just before noon Eastern time. Cleveland-Cliffs helped lead the way with a jump of 24% after the steel companys CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, said it would provide details soon about a potential deal with a major global steel producer that could mean bigger profits. He also said Cleveland-Cliffs has potentially found rare earths at sites in Michigan and Minnesota. Such materials have thrust into the global spotlight after China put curbs on the export of its own rare earths, a move that President Donald Trump earlier this month characterized as hostile. Trumps ensuing threat of higher tariffs on China triggered big swings for Wall Street, but the concerns eased a bit after Trump said such high tax rates are unsustainable. Another source of worry for Wall Street, from the banking industry, also appears to be easing. Stocks of smaller and midsize banks climbed Monday, recovering some of their losses after a couple raised alarm bells last week by warning about potentially bad loans theyve made. The disclosures had raised questions about whether the growing list of problems is just a collection of one-offs or a signal of something larger threatening the entire industry. Zions Bancorporation rose 2.5% following its 5.1% drop last week. It will report its latest quarterly earnings after trading ends for the day, and scrutiny will be high after it said its charging off $50 million of loans where it found apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults by the borrowers. This will be a heavier week for corporate earnings reports generally. Big names delivering their latest results will include Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday, and Procter & Gamble on Friday. The pressure is on companies to show that their profits are growing because they need to justify the big gains their stock prices have made. The S&P 500 is still near its all-time high, which was set earlier this month following a torrid 35% run from a low in April. Delivering bigger profits is one of the easiest ways for companies to quiet criticism that stock prices have gone too high. The other is for stock prices to fall. Corporate profit reports have also taken on more importance because theyre offering windows into the strength of the U.S. economy when the U.S. governments shutdown has delayed many important economic updates. Thats making the job of the Federal Reserve more difficult, as it tries to decide whether high inflation or the slowing job market is the bigger problem for the economy. Fed officials have indicated theyre likely to cut interest rates a few more times through next year in order to give the economy a boost. But that could be a mistake if inflation worsens, because low interest rates can push prices even higher. On Friday, the U.S. government will issue an update for inflation during September. The report was supposed to arrive earlier in month, and the Social Security Administration needs the numbers to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for beneficiaries. But the government said, No other releases will be rescheduled or produced until the resumption of regular government services. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 3.99%, from 4.02% late Friday. Treasury yields have been falling recently, and lower yields help make stock prices look less expensive by encouraging some investors to buy stocks when they otherwise would have bought bonds. On Wall Street, Amazons stock held up despite a widespread outage for its cloud computing service that caused disruption for internet users around the world early Monday. Amazons stock rose 0.8%. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Japans Nikkei 225 jumped 3.4%, after its governing Liberal Democrats found a new coalition partner, securing support for its leader Sanae Takaichi to become the countrys first female prime minister. Investors expect Takaichi to push for low interest rates, higher government spending, and other policies that could help the market. Indexes rose 2.4% in Hong Kong and 0.6% in Shanghai after China reported its economy grew at a 4.8% annual pace in the last quarter, supported by relatively strong exports as companies increased shipments markets other than the U.S. Still, it was the slowest pace in a year. The worlds second-largest economy is still struggling to emerge from a prolonged downturn in its property market and to encourage consumers and businesses to spend more. By Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Business Writers David McHugh and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U.S. eyes the continents rich rare-earth resources when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad. The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months. Todays agreement on critical minerals and rare earths is just taking the U.S. and Australia’s relationship to the next level,” Albanese added. This month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese technology. Trump’s Republican administration says this gives China broad power over the global economy by controlling the tech supply chain. Australia is really, really going to be helpful in the effort to take the global economy and make it less risky, less exposed to the kind of rare earth extortion that were seeing from the Chinese, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White Houses National Economic Council, told reporters on Monday morning ahead of Trumps meeting with Albanese. Hassett noted that Australia has one of the best mining economies in the world, while praising its refiners and its abundance of rare earth resources. Among the Australian officials accompanying Albanese are ministers overseeing resources and industry and science, and Australia has dozens of critical minerals sought by the U.S. The prime minister’s visit comes just before Trump is planning to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea later this month. For Albanese’s part, the prime minister said ahead of his visit that the two leaders will have a chance to deepen their countries’ ties on trade and defense. Another expected topic of discussion is AUKUS, a security pact with Australia, the U.S., and the United Kingdom that was signed during U.S. President Joe Bidens Democratic administration. Trump has not indicated publicly whether he would want to keep AUKUS intact, and the Pentagon is reviewing the agreement. Australia and the United States have stood shoulder to shoulder in every major conflict for over a century, Albanese said ahead of the meeting. I look forward to a positive and constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House. The center-left Albanese was reelected in May and suggested shortly after his win that his party increased its majority by not modeling itself on Trumpism. Australians have chosen to face global challenges the Australian waylooking after each other while building for the future, Albanese told supporters during his victory speech. By Seung Min Kim and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Get ready to hurry up and wait. As delays and cancellations continue to pile up at the nations busiest airports during the weeks-long government shutdown, some travelers who have been anticipating extra headaches are hedging their bets with extra insurance protections. According to data shared with Fast Company from the price comparison service InsureMyTrip, 10% of travel insurance policies purchased in September and into October have included cancel for any reason (CFAR) coverage. Thats the highest percentage of the year so far and above the average of 8% seen from January through August, InsureMyTrip says. The additional protection, which can increase your insurance costs by upwards of 50%, according to NerdWallet, can be a kind of safety net for travelers who are willing and able to spend the extra cash. Travel delays are among the most visible impacts of prolonged government shutdowns, adding increased uncertainty and chaos as air traffic controllers who are being forced to work for partial or no pay call in sick or take leave. Over the weekend, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that staffing shortages were causing delays at airports in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, and Newark, according to Reuters. With no end in sight to the political impasse that led to the shutdown, the problem is likely to get worse as thousands of air traffic controllers are expected to miss their paychecks at the end of this month. A hedge against government dysfunction Travel disruptions caused by government regulations are not covered under standard insurance plans, according to InsureMyTrip. Additionally, travelers who had planned to visit one of Americas national parkswhich are only partially open or have reduced services during the shutdownmight find they have little recourse under a standard plan. CFAR coverage offers more protection against the unexpectedor against the expected, depending on your level of confidence in our governments ability to function the way its supposed to. The increased interest in CFAR coverage tracks with a recent report from the trade publication Insurance Business, which cited consumers seeking extra protections in a perpetually uncertain world. According to InsureMyTrip, travelers who opt for that extra coverage can be reimbursed up to 75% of their trips non-refundable costs, provided they cancel 48 hours before they actually leave. Would-be fliers may be considering doing just that. Data from flight tracking service FlightAware shows that delays and cancellations into, within, and out of U.S. airports spiked again this weekend, with some 7,806 delays on Sunday alone. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Americas tourism industry was already facing headwinds before the shutdown, with the U.S. Travel Association expecting total inbound spending to fall 3.2% to $173 billion in 2025, its first decline since 2020. Still, domestic leisure travel had been a bright spot. It’s expected to grow 1.9% to $895 billion this year, according to the associations fall travel update. Whether or not it hits that number might yet depend on a number of possible outcomes, including the most unlikely of all: elected officials doing their jobs.
Category:
E-Commerce
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