Trump and CEO actually got it in Riyadh

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“Many checks”

Business leaders who have high hopes for the second Trump administration have not signed up for the turmoil of the trade war. President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia is more of their thoughts.

Putting aside the question of how many things are in the multi-billion dollar deal announced by the administration on Tuesday is actually new, and it is the first leg of Trump’s trip to the Middle East, highlighting his trading intuition that company leaders have been betting on.

Here are the highlights of what was announced on Tuesday:

A nearly $142 billion defense agreement involving more than a dozen U.S. companies and covers air force and space capabilities, border security, communications, and more
NVIDIA's deal to sell about 18,000 of its latest chips to Saudi artificial intelligence startup Lumain to power new data centers, and AMD also sells about $10 billion worth of processors to Humain, both chipmakers soared on Tuesday
Google, Oracle, Uber and others are worth about $80 billion in “the most advanced transformation technology in both countries”
GE Vernova's total gas turbine value is about $19 billion, Boeing's aircraft exports
Saudi company Datavolt promises to invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States
According to Elon Musk

Trading traffic is why the top company leaders were on Tuesday at Riyadh Yon. Consider who is in U.S. Sudi Investment Lunch: Musk; NVIDIA's Jensen Huang (Trump yells at him while pointing out Apple's Tim Cook no Showcase); Openai's Sam Altman is raising billions to build data centers and sell AI services; Blackrock's Larry Fink engraved with Saudi wealth. Andy Jassy of Amazon; Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber; Alex Karp of data consulting firm Palantir; Kelly Alterberg of Boeing; and more.

The environment that Trump seems to enjoy is also an environment – of course, in terms of decoration, but also focused on trading. “We have the world’s biggest business leaders here,” he said. “They will walk away with a lot of checks.”

It's OK, the announced deal is far from meeting Trump's goal. The White House said it had received a $600 billion investment commitment from Saudi Arabia. But so far, the total announced is about $283 billion, with the organizers of the investment forum saying that the total of 145 transactions exceeded $300 billion. Several deals before Trump's second term have already been underway.

The president has urged Saudi officials to commit more than $1 trillion (and lower oil prices, start). However, this figure exceeds the assets held by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund (public investment fund), which has said it wants to invest less abroad and focus on the domestic economy.

All of this reminds people that dealings are the way to Trump’s heart. The promise of a big investment is how the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, made connections with the president during his first term.

This is a lesson that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also learn, and it is almost certain that more promises will be announced when Trump goes next.

Speaking of Qatar, even Republicans are cautious about the country’s potential gifts, using the Boeing 747 as Air Force One: Texas Senator Ted Cruz told CNBC, “The aircraft became a major espionage and surveillance issue.”

This is what happened

Trade court heard lawsuits against President Trump. The panel of three judges at the Manhattan International Trade Court heard arguments from a group of small businesses that advocated blocking taxes and government lawyers’ defenses. In addition, the Washington Post reported that the election issues helped convince the White House to reduce Chinese tariffs.

Tesla's board of directors is said to have weighed a new compensation plan for Elon Musk. The two-director committee (Robyn Denholm) is the automaker chairman Robyn Denholm and independent board member Kathleen Wilson-Thompson – has been formed to consider ways to compensate Musk, especially if the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a salary day spanning billions of dollars, which is the Financial Times report. Additionally, over the past six months, Denholm has sold $198 million worth of Tesla shares through a pre-arranged trade plan.

Musk's Doge no longer claims to cut more credibility on federal contracts. The Ministry of Efficiency of the Government has withdrawn its website’s claim that dozens of contracts have been canceled after the Times reported that dozens of contracts had been restored. The move highlights greater questions about Musk’s actual achievements in forming a group and its impact on Capitol Hill.

Microsoft once again puts the axe on its labor force. The tech giant said it plans to lay off about 3% of its employees (about 6,000) as it aims to reduce management. The move – despite quarterly earnings exceeding expectations, the latest reminder that tech companies can still earn from spending cuts, while Amazon and Crowdstrike announced layoffs this year.

Back to the square

Calm returned to bond markets, with S&P 500-year futures pointing to a higher Wednesday as investors are bullish and President Trump's trade war will be replaced by a trade deal.

According to Deutsche Bank, the market rebound rate is reminiscent of the recovery rate of the V-shaped market in the Covid-e era in April 2020. This surge strengthened investors' portfolios and led to a trading boom, but there were a lot of ic along the way.

This may also be intermittent. Investors cheered Tuesday for the latest Consumer Price Index report, which showed annual title inflation rose 2.3% to its lowest level for more than four years. But economists expect to see the impact of tariffs on future reported price increases. A series of companies warn that levies have boosted their supply chains, forcing them to consider passing on these fees to consumers.

This can happen:

Bull Case: There are now three consecutive tame CPI reports. Even egg prices fell. Analysts say that if it weren't for the uncertainty of tariffs, the narrative in today's market could be about the Fed's largely covering up the threat of inflation.

Can a series of trade deals put inflationary elves in a bottle? That's enough to convince the Fed to resume lowering interest rates, which could stimulate borrowing and incentivize investors to buy stocks?

On social media on Tuesday, Trump once again begged the central bank and its chairman Jay Powell to take action: “The Fed must slow down like Europe and China. Is Powell too late and unfair to the United States?

(That is, futures traders on Wednesday reduce There are only two lower odds this year. )

Bear case: Tuesday's CPI report was a Haishi Rage Building. “Higher tariffs could undermine this trend, and our expectation is that prices for commodities, including vehicles and clothing, will rise,” Sarah House, a senior economist at Wells Fargo, wrote in a research note on Tuesday. Other economists labeling the price increase in home furniture, toys and audio equipment as tariffs may still squeeze consumers' signs.

The question is whether tariffs lead to ingrained inflation, which could damage consumers’ purchasing power and erode economic growth. This could put more pressure on the Fed intervention – but it could take months. “It will be a quiet summer for the Fed,” Becky Qin, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Fidelity International, told Bloomberg this morning.

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“He needs to leave.”

– Eric HolderThe former U.S. attorney general led the investigation into allegations of financial misconduct and discrimination by World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab, the whistleblower, according to the Wall Street Journal.

How donors miss Biden warning signs

The consequences of the presidential election have sparked soul searches for the Democrats and their supporters, especially before the mid-term next year. A new book is expected to force them to reflect on what went wrong.

CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios's Jake Tapper intervened in whether President Joe Biden decided that such a long vote was doomed to be a November chance on such a long Democratic vote.

A major focus of the book is on how Democratic Forces players and major donors miss out on signs that Biden’s acumen is clearly slipping, even as they invest huge sums in his re-election campaign. These are just bad days, or are they signs of deep-rooted declines? The book hints whether the aides and party leaders are denied, or are they deliberately deceive others Biden's mental state and ability?

Tapper and Thompson detail the backstage of the major fundraising campaign in Los Angeles, organized by Hollywood tycoon Jeffrey Katzenberg, who is the president of the Biden campaign, and with the assistance of actor George Clooney, a run effort by Biden on the campaign of the George Clooney. Excerpts from New Yorker:

It seems obvious that the president did not recognize Clooney.

“It's OK,” recalled the Hollywood VIP who witnessed it. … “It’s very uncomfortable.”

“George Clooney,Aides clarified for the president.

“Oh, yes!” Biden said. “Hi, George!”

Clooney was shaken by his core. The president did not know him, this is a man he had known for many years. Clooney has previously expressed concerns about Biden's health – a White House aide told him a few months ago they were working to get the president to walk longer – but obviously the problem is far beyond his gait. This is awful.

Is this the President of the United States?

Clooney is certainly not the only person involved. Other high-priced attendees taking photos with Obama and Biden described Biden as being slow and almost a cat. Although they saw clear pockets as they watched him on TV, there were obvious signs of brain freezing and obvious mental slippage on stage later that night. For some of them, it's terrible.