Review & Preview: Earnings Roll On

Over the weekend high-level talks between U.S. and China officials in Malaysia led to a preliminary agreement largely focused on tariffs—to the point that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted the White House’s threat of 100% additional tariffs won’t be imposed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 337 points, or 0.7% while the S&P 500 rose 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.9%. With Trump and Xi’s meeting in Busan, Raymond James Washington Policy Analyst Ed Mills expects “to see another round of tariff suspension and de-escalation on issues such as rare earths export controls as a base case…The flurry of escalatory actions in recent weeks should largely be viewed through the lens of gaining leverage vs. a material desire to ramp up tensions.”