Wednesday: August 20th
Good morning, it's good to be back! With the CFA Level 3 exam now written, it's time to get back to work.
Big news has been on Trump and Putin meeting in Alaska, and then Zalenskiy visiting the White House in the days subsequent to the Alaskan Summit. Oil prices seem to have been fluctuating between ups-and-downs and investors try to discern if a peace deal will come to fruition. To me it seems like the deal is still a ways away, but as we have witnessed thus far in the Trump 2.0 presidency, conditions are subject to change at a flip of a 'tweet'.
Oil prices saw a boost today as U.S. crude inventory was drawn down by 6mm barrels, more than double what analysts predicted.
The Trump administration had discussions earlier last week with Intel's CEO about the idea of the government taking a financial stake in the company. Notably, this is contrasting Trump calling for the CEO to be fired within the past weeks. Intel's chip manufacturing business has been hemorrhaging cash since 2020, when competition from the likes of Taiwan Semi came into play. Even though Intel has been sliding downhill for years now, they still stand as the U.S.'s best hope for scaling up manufacturing of high quality chips.
Why is Trump even concerned about this? Because the growing trend of semiconductor dominance is becoming more and more dominated by Taiwan which endangers Trump's goals regarding American national security and supply chain stability. Many U.S. companies like Apple and Nvidia use these Taiwanese semiconductor chips as main inputs for their products, creating a significant weakness in Trump's mind.
TSX 60: 1,652.35
DJIA: 44,922.70
S&P: 6,406.62
Nasdaq: 21,269.67
Oil (WTI): 62.60
ICE NGX (T-1): 0.94
Oil prices rise on drop in US crude inventories as investors focus on Ukraine peace push
‘Nothing Is Off the Table.’ Gigantic Changes Are Coming to Pro Golf.
Intel’s Move Toward Nationalization Won’t Work—at Least for the Long Haul