The S&P 500 closed at a brand new excessive amid Trump’s blitz

U.S. President Donald Trump’s whirlwind blitz via the forms, financial coverage and geopolitical affairs is not ending. As prime U.S. officers meet their Russian counterparts for high-level talks, Trump prompt to reporters that Ukraine was in some way answerable for inciting Moscow’s invasion of the nation.

On different fronts, nevertheless, Trump is leaving issues undisturbed. His administration left intact stiff guidelines — put in place throughout former U.S. President Joe Biden’s time period — overseeing company mergers. That would come as a let-down to Wall Avenue, which had been trying ahead to an uptick in offers due to expectations that the Trump administration can be pro-business and fewer against mergers and acquisitions.

However that did not disappoint traders a lot. The S&P 500 set a brand new closing document on Tuesday. And, farther from Trump, the European Stoxx 600 additionally notched a contemporary excessive.

Data on each side of the Atlantic
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 added 0.24% to shut at a contemporary excessive of 6,129.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Common was flat and the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.07%. Nonetheless, Meta shares snapped their 20-day successful streak. Over in Europe, the continent’s regional Stoxx 600 index additionally notched a document shut after climbing 0.32%. European protection shares continued marching larger, with Lubawa leaping 14% and Renk Group gaining 2.7%.

Optimism over potential Intel break up
Intel shares surged 16.1% on Tuesday after information broke that Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing are reportedly eyeing offers that would break up the U.S. chipmaker. After having fun with its greatest day since March 2020, Intel’s inventory closed at $27.39. With Tuesday’s positive aspects, its shares are up practically 31% this yr following a 60% hunch in 2024. Broadcom shares dipped 1.9%, whereas TSMC dipped lower than 0.6%.

Strict merger guidelines left intact
The Trump administration on Tuesday stated it’s going to preserve utilizing strict pointers, adopted throughout former U.S. President Joe Biden’s time period, to evaluation proposed company mergers. The choice is a victory for the anticorporate wing of the Trump administration, embodied by Vice President JD Vance, however a blow to Wall Avenue, which had been anticipating extra offers beneath a loosened framework for evaluating proposed mergers.

Musk’s xAI launches Grok 3
Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday introduced its newest synthetic intelligence mannequin, Grok 3, claiming it could possibly outperform choices from OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek based mostly on early testing. The xAI group additionally stated it was launching a brand new product known as “Deep Search,” which might act as a “subsequent technology search engine.” 

U.S. meets Russia in Saudi Arabia
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia, the first formal sit-down assembly between prime U.S. and Russian diplomats since January 2022. Each side emphasised that talks have been preliminary. On the identical day, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Ukraine “ought to by no means have began it,” referring to Russia’s invasion of the nation in 2022.

[PRO] Divided over Europe’s outperformance of U.S.
The Stoxx 600 index rose 6.3% in January, far larger than the two.7% acquire of the S&P 500. The previous’s outperformance has persevered into February, rising greater than the U.S. broad-based index month up to now. Whereas some analysts are optimistic the development can endure, others warn that “European traders could have to take pleasure in it whereas it lasts” due to one basic driver of markets

Huawei launches $3,660 trifold cellphone outdoors of China because it charts worldwide comeback

Huawei launched the Mate XT on Tuesday, pricing it at 3,499 euros ($3,660). The handset was launched in China final yr and drew world intrigue for being the first-ever trifold cellphone. Regular foldable units will be folded as soon as in half, both vertically or horizontally. The Mate XT has two factors at which it could possibly fold and might show content material on a single, double or triple display.

Huawei was as soon as the largest smartphone participant on the earth. U.S. sanctions starting in 2019 minimize off Huawei’s entry to advance chips and Google’s Android working system, inflicting its market share to plunge. Nonetheless, in China, Huawei’s market share grew to 17% in 2024 from 12% the yr earlier than, based on the IDC. Huawei is hoping to carry that momentum to its abroad market.