What we’re reading (8/7)
“Dow Slides, Nasdaq Jumps To Record As Tariffs Kick In, Trump Nominates Miran To Fed board” (Yahoo! Finance). “US stocks trimmed losses on Thursday, finishing mixed after President Trump's sweeping tariffs hit dozens of US trade partners. Meanwhile, Trump also previewed coming chip tariffs, suggesting a carveout that could benefit Big Tech companies. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose nearly 0.4% to close at a fresh record, while the S&P 500 ended little changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.5%.”
“Auto Industry Takes $12 Billion Hit From Trade War” (Wall Street Journal). “President Trump’s tariff war has inflicted almost $12 billion of losses on global automakers, the biggest hit they have faced since the pandemic. The scary reality: This may be just the beginning. Beyond the continuing cost of tariffs, automakers in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe face years of retooling and supply-chain tweaks to adjust to the new realities. This comes after they spent heavily to reshape factories for electric vehicles.”
“Stock Buybacks Are Surging. Here’s Why It Matters To Your Portfolio.” (MarketWatch). “A surge in share repurchases represents tentativeness about the future. That might seem counterintuitive, but researchers have found that when corporate executives feel confident about what’s coming down the pike, they tend to use excess cash to increase dividends. When, like today, they are less confident, they instead tend to repurchase shares.”
“How AI Conquered the US Economy: A Visual FAQ” (Derek Thompson). “Nobody can say for sure whether the AI boom is evidence of the next Industrial Revolution or the next big bubble. All we know is that it’s happening. We can all stop talking about ‘what will happen if AI dominates the economy at such-and-such future date?’ No, the AI economy is here and now. We’re living in it, for better or worse.”
“Tesla’s Biggest Rivals Warn the EV Party Might Be Over” (Gizmodo). “After a brief sugar rush of sales, Tesla’s top rivals are bracing for a brutal hangover, hit by a double punch of hostile policies from the second Trump administration: crippling tariffs and the fast-approaching end of the federal EV tax credits that have propped up the industry for years.”
