व्यापार

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed orders expanding credits for U.S. auto and engine production and setting new 25% tariffs on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts starting November 1. The tariffs, which the orders say are being made on national security grounds, are aimed at shifting more auto production to the United States but could be a significant blow to Mexico, which is the largest exporter of medium- and heavy-duty trucks to the United States. Trump is also setting a 10% tariff on imported buses. Trump's order makes automakers eligible for a credit equal to 3.75% of the suggested retail price for U.S. assembled vehicles through 2030 to offset import tariffs on parts. He is also extending the 3.75% credit for U.S. engine production and for U.S. medium- and heavy-duty truck production. The new tariffs cover all Class 3 through Class 8 trucks, including large pick-up trucks, moving trucks, cargo trucks, dump trucks, and tractors for 18-wheelers. Trump last month said the tariffs were to protect manufacturers from "unfair outside competition" and the move would benefit companies such as Paccar-owned Peterbilt and Kenworth and Daimler Truck-owned Freightliner. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier urged Trump not to impose new truck tariffs, noting the top five import sources are Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland "all of which are allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to U.S. national security." Reuters first reported the details of the auto tariff action on October 3. The order provides GM, Ford, Toyota Motor, Stellantis, Honda, Tesla, and other automakers with financial relief against tariffs paid on imported auto parts that were previously imposed by the Trump administration. The Commerce Department said in June it planned an import adjustment offset equal to 3.75% of the suggested retail price for eligible U.S. assembled vehicles through April 2026 and then a second year at 2.5% to address tariffs from imported automobile parts. The revised credit expands it to five years, keeps it at 3.75% throughout and extends it to more parts, which makes it more valuable for automakers and could give companies more incentive to shift production, Republican Senator Bernie Moreno said. Ford CEO Jim Farley said Trump’s order would help make auto parts affordable for U.S. production and the new import tariffs on larger trucks would help level the playing field with imports. In May, Trump imposed 25% auto tariffs on more than $460 billion worth of imports of vehicles and auto parts annually, but has since struck deals to reduce those tariffs on some countries including Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union. The Commerce Department said in August it was hiking steel and aluminum tariffs on more than 400 products including numerous auto parts totaling $240 billion in annual imports. The parts include automotive exhaust systems and steel needed for electric vehicles as well as components for buses. GM said earlier this year the company will face up to $5 billion in gross tariff-related costs this year, while Ford cited a $3 billion gross hit. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Alun John, Ankur Banerjee, Manya Saini, Nupur Anand and Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK/LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) -A clutch of bad loans at banks in recent weeks has shaken investor confidence in banking shares, which gyrated sharply late this week as unease mounted over credit risks that threatened to spill into the broader markets. The markets have weathered a string of credit scares and surprise write-downs over the past two years, but sentiment took a particularly hard knock in recent days from auto bankruptcies and alleged fraud that resulted in losses at several banks. The latest scare came on Thursday when Zions Bancorporation disclosed losses tied to two commercial and industrial loans and Western Alliance said it had initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group V, LLC. Cantor denies the allegations. VARIETY OF ISSUES FUEL CREDIT CONCERNS "Markets have been gripped by a sense of fear and panic in the last couple of days," said Timothy Coffey, associate director of depository research at Janney Montgomery Scott. "There are different issues that are being conflated into one big issue about credit concerns." Pressure on bank stocks "is likely to continue, this panic is like a fever. Once it enters the system, it takes a while to leave," Coffey said.  The banking sector's exposure to two recent U.S. auto bankruptcies, at First Brands and Tricolor, has also rekindled concerns about lending standards more than two years after Silicon Valley Bank's failure triggered broader turmoil. "In the post-SVB world, regulators have been asking banks about their commercial real estate exposure, the percentage of their uninsured deposits, deposit strategy, how they are set up at the discount window, and those conversations have not changed," said Dan Hartman, a lawyer at Nutter. Still, many played down any parallels with the regional banking crisis in 2023, which was marked by the failure of several mid-sized banks including Silicon Valley Bank. "I would not equate what happened this week to the 2023 banking crisis," said Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence. He said investors now were reacting to losses they did not understand well, but he expected shares would recover as more information is released. U.S. BANK STOCKS CLAW BACK LOSSES U.S. bank stocks indeed rebounded on Friday, clawing back some of the steep losses the day before when fears over bad loans triggered a global selloff that swept through European and Asian markets. The rebound helped the main U.S. equities indexes finish higher in choppy trading even as investors stayed on edge about banks. Their anxiety had already been stirred by escalating U.S.-China trade tensions and the global economic outlook. The U.S. KBW Regional Banking Index, which closed down 6.3% on Thursday, ended Friday up 1.7%. An index tracking large-cap rivals finished up 0.6% after falling 3.6% the day before. In the European markets banks fell almost 3%, with Deutsche Bank and Barclays sliding around 6%. Financial firms in Asia, especially Japanese banks and insurers, also took a hit. Options market activity on Friday was mixed, as Thursday's initial defensive trading shifted toward modest positioning for a sector rebound. "While there's clear hedging tied to fears of credit deterioration and broader contagion, it's not yet a full-blown systemic panic — it's an increase in concern and uncertainty," said Chris Murphy, co-head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna Financial Group. Investors are also assessing whether recent strains in U.S. credit markets could affect AI-fueled valuations across markets. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said earlier this week about credit markets: "When you see one cockroach, there are probably more, and so everyone should be forewarned." INVESTORS ENCOURAGED BY STRONG EARNINGS White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that banks have ample reserves and that he was optimistic credit markets could stay ahead of the curve. He added in an interview with Fox Business Network that Trump administration officials led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Federal Reserve's Michelle Bowman are "cleaning things up right now," but gave no further details. Strong earnings from Truist Financial, Regions Financial and Fifth Third on Friday bolstered investor sentiment, sending most U.S. regional banks higher on Friday. "The few recent corporate bankruptcies appear to be isolated cases, with the raft of bank earnings reports this week actually noting overall improving credit quality in the third quarter," said Stephen Biggar, director of financial research at Argus Research. Zions Bancorp rose 5.8% on Friday, after closing down 13% the day before. Western Alliance climbed 3.1% after losing roughly 11% on Thursday. Jefferies shares jumped 5.9% following a steep drop in the previous session. Some investors were encouraged by the emerging earnings picture. "It seems like despite some of the risks, right, the consumer is muddling through for now, and the market will probably eventually look through that," Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Seattle. "But we've got to clear some of these worry factors in the near term." (Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore, Alun John in London and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Tatiana Bautzer, Chuck Mikolajczak, Nupur Anand, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Kevin Buckland, Stella Qiu, Dhara Ranasinghe, Jose Joel, Pritam Biswas and Medha Singh; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Mark Potter, Megan Davies, Lananh Nguyen, Nick Zieminski and Edmund Klamann)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed avenues for expanding U.S. participation in Liberia's critical minerals sector in a meeting this week with Liberian Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the State Department said on Friday. Rubio and Nyanti met in Washington on Thursday to discuss deepening U.S.-Liberia bilateral relations and expanding U.S. commercial engagement in Liberia, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. "The meeting explored avenues for expanding U.S. participation in Liberia’s critical minerals sector with the aim of creating jobs and economic growth in both the United States and Liberia," Pigott said. (Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Christian Martinez; editing by Costas Pitas)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Nvidia uveiled on Friday the first U.S.-made Blackwell wafer, produced at TSMC's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, as demand for AI chips accelerates. Companies have been racing to meet the broader AI industry's voracious appetite for computing power as they develop AI technology that meets or exceeds human intelligence. The move "bolsters the U.S. supply chain and onshores the AI technology stack that will turn data into intelligence and secure America's leadership for the AI era," Nvidia said in a blog post. It also aligns with President Donald Trump's efforts to strengthen U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. TSMC's Arizona facility will produce advanced technologies including two-, three- and four-nanometer chips, as well as A16 chips, that are essential for applications like AI, telecommunications and high-performance computing, Nvidia said. There has recently been a flurry of mega deals between AI firms and chipmakers such as Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom to build data center capacity. TSMC, the world's biggest producer of advanced chips, raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday on a bullish outlook for AI spending after posting a record profit that blew past market estimates. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a UK-based pricing and data research firm for energy transition minerals, has cut at least a fifth of its workforce in recent weeks, said three people familiar with the company. The 11-year-old firm had been rapidly expanding over the last couple of years alongside growing market interest in lithium, copper and other minerals needed for electric vehicles and other clean-energy uses. The layoffs include at least 40 people at Benchmark, the three sources said, out of a total workforce of 200 people. Two of the sources said affected departments included sustainability, sales and marketing.  CEO Andrew Miller in an email to Reuters said the firm had undergone a "recent restructuring." He declined to comment further on Reuters questions regarding the reductions. "This process is part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen the quality and delivery of Benchmark's offering, focused around further investment in our technology and AI capabilities," he said. One source cited weak pricing for minerals, especially battery metal lithium, as a drag on Benchmark's business, whose clients include miners, battery makers and politicians. Lithium prices have plunged since their peak in 2022 due to slower-than-expected adoption of electric cars.     In a research note Benchmark published on its website last week, the company said it expected a sharp decline in U.S. EV sales in the last quarter of the year. It added that other challenges such as high manufacturing costs and rising tariffs are prompting some carmakers to scale back EV production plans into next year. Privately held Benchmark last year bought EV market research firm Rho Motion, creating a combined company of 250 employees.  In addition to lithium, Benchmark tracks prices and other market data for copper, cobalt, nickel, graphite, rare earths, manganese, fluorspar and phosphate.  (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Santiago, Pratima Desai in London and Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Editing by Christian Plumb and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday signed orders approving significant tariff relief for U.S. auto and engine production and setting new 25% tariffs on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts starting November 1. Trump is also setting a 10% tariff on imported buses. Trump's order makes automakers eligible for a credit equal to 3.75% of the suggested retail price for U.S. assembled vehicles through 2030 to offset imports tariffs on parts. He is also extending the import adjustment offset credit for U.S. engine production and for U.S. medium- and heavy-duty truck production. (Reporting by David Shepardson)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Noel Randewich and Twesha Dikshit (Reuters) -Wall Street ended higher on Friday as investors assessed U.S. President Donald Trump's latest remarks on China, while quarterly results from regional banks eased concerns about credit risks.  Trump said his proposed 100% tariff on goods from China would not be sustainable, but blamed Beijing for the latest impasse in trade talks that began with Chinese authorities tightening control over rare earth exports. Trump unveiled the new tariffs a week ago, along with new export controls on "any and all critical software," to go into effect on November 1. "The market doesn't really know what to take when Donald Trump speaks," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. "There's just a lot of back-and-forth comments with regards to China and trade tariffs and pretty much everything else." Regional bank stocks rebounded following a selloff on Thursday, when Zions Bancorporation disclosed losses tied to two commercial and industrial loans and Western Alliance revealed it had initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group V, LLC. "There's a lot more bark than bite on the credit fears," said Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital. "Looking through all the big banks' results, credit is very good. Overall, there are very few pockets of weakness."  Truist Financial gained 3.7% after the bank reported higher third-quarter profit. Fifth Third Bancorp rose 1.3%, Zions shares rebounded from losses the day before to close 5.8% higher, and Western Alliance advanced 3.1%. The S&P Composite 1500 Regional Banks index climbed 1.8% after tumbling almost 6% the day before. The S&P 500 financial sector index, which includes the largest U.S. banks, rose 0.8%. Robust earnings from JPMorgan and other big banks this week helped get the third-quarter earnings season off to an upbeat start. Analysts on average see S&P 500 earnings climbing 9.3% in the third quarter, an improvement from expectations of 8.8% at the start of October, according to LSEG I/B/E/S. Following a rally of nearly 14% in 2025, the S&P 500 is valued at 23 times expected earnings, its priciest level in five years. The S&P 500 climbed 0.53% to end the session at 6,664.01 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.52% to 22,679.98 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.52% to 46,190.61 points. Nine of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by consumer staples, up 1.23%. For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.7%, the Nasdaq rose 2.1% and the Dow climbed 1.6%. The CBOE volatility index, investors' fear gauge, dropped to 21.5 points after hitting its highest level in nearly six months at 28.99 earlier in the day. Wall Street's most valuable companies were mixed, with Tesla rising 2.5%, Apple adding almost 2% and Amazon falling 0.7%. Eli Lilly fell 2% after Trump said he would bring down prices of weight-loss drugs. State Street dropped 1.4% after the bank's third-quarter net interest income missed estimates. Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 2.6-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 7 new highs and 6 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 37 new highs and 114 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 19.6 billion shares traded, compared with an average of 20.7 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. (Reporting by Noel Randewich in San Francisco and Sukriti Gupta, Medha Singh and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Matthew Lewis)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Nvidia uveiled on Friday the first U.S.-made Blackwell wafer, produced at TSMC's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, as demand for AI chips accelerates. Companies have been racing to meet the broader AI industry's voracious appetite for computing power as they develop AI technology that meets or exceeds human intelligence. The move "bolsters the U.S. supply chain and onshores the AI technology stack that will turn data into intelligence and secure America's leadership for the AI era," Nvidia said in a blog post. It also aligns with President Donald Trump's efforts to strengthen U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. TSMC's Arizona facility will produce advanced technologies including two-, three- and four-nanometer chips, as well as A16 chips, that are essential for applications like AI, telecommunications and high-performance computing, Nvidia said. There has recently been a flurry of mega deals between AI firms and chipmakers such as Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom to build data center capacity. TSMC, the world's biggest producer of advanced chips, raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday on a bullish outlook for AI spending after posting a record profit that blew past market estimates. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Nvidia uveiled on Friday the first U.S.-made Blackwell wafer, produced at TSMC's semiconductor manufacturing facility in Phoenix, as demand for AI chips accelerates. Companies have been racing to meet the broader AI industry's voracious appetite for computing power as they develop AI technology that meets or exceeds human intelligence. The move "bolsters the U.S. supply chain and onshores the AI technology stack that will turn data into intelligence and secure America's leadership for the AI era," Nvidia said in a blog post. It also aligns with President Donald Trump's efforts to strengthen U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. TSMC's Arizona facility will produce advanced technologies including two-, three- and four-nanometer chips, as well as A16 chips, that are essential for applications like AI, telecommunications and high-performance computing, Nvidia said. There has recently been a flurry of mega deals between AI firms and chipmakers such as Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom to build data center capacity. TSMC, the world's biggest producer of advanced chips, raised its full-year revenue forecast on Thursday on a bullish outlook for AI spending after posting a record profit that blew past market estimates. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Colombier Acquisition Corp. III, a blank-check firm backed by Omeed Malik, filed for an initial public offering in the United States on Friday.  The Palm Beach, Florida-based company plans to offer 26 million shares priced at $10 each and is seeking to raise $260 million. U.S. President Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. is one of the directors and has served as a partner at investment firm 1789 Capital since November 2024. Launched in 2022 by Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk, 1789 Capital has the tagline "funding the next chapter of American exceptionalism" on its website. Malik was a prominent donor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Chamath Palihapitiya, dubbed Wall Street's "SPAC king" for his high-profile blank-check deals, will be one of the directors of the company. SPACs are shell companies that use their IPO proceeds to merge with a private company, thereby taking it public while avoiding the regulatory scrutiny of a traditional listing. The move is the latest in a series of ventures by the U.S. president's family, including a meme coin launched in January, and World Liberty Financial – a crypto company partly owned by the president. Donald Trump Jr.-backed firearms retailer GrabAGun went public after clinching a merger with Colombier Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company backed by Malik. Colombier said it would apply to list its units on the New York Stock Exchange under the "CLBR U" ticker symbol. Roth Capital is the underwriter for the offering. (Reporting by Anuj T in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Pooja Desai)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)