Breakfast News: Tangled Trade Timelines
June 12, 2025
| S&P 500 6,022 (-0.27%) |
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| Nasdaq 19,616 (-0.5%) |
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| Dow 42,866 (-0%) |
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| Bitcoin $108,921 (-0.52%) |
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Source: Image created by Jester AI.
1. Tariff Deadline Causes Confusion
President Trump is planning on notifying trade partners within the next two weeks of unilateral tariff rates, causing some disorientation following comments from the Treasury Secretary who indicated the tariff pause could likely be extended. S&P 500 futures were down modestly lower as a result.
- "I think you understand that, saying this is the deal, you can take it or leave it": The current levy pause is due to expire in less than a month, with negotiations ongoing with 18 important trading partners. At this stage, it's unclear if Trump will follow through with his latest pledge.
- China puts six-month limit on rare-earth U.S. export licenses: The fragile nature of deal-making was highlighted with the breakthrough in talks with China, with the key easing of rare-earth restrictions having a temporary timeframe according to the WSJ, giving Beijing leverage if tensions flare up again.
2. Nvidia Pushes European Expansion
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the business will build its first AI cloud platform for industrial applications in Europe, alongside 20 AI factories, as he claimed AI in the region will increase by 10x in the next two years.
- "Europe has now awakened to the importance of AI factories...and infrastructure": The move will see expanded tech distribution in seven countries, alongside partnering with AI model makers to support local languages outside of English.
- "Quantum computing is reaching an inflection point": Huang spoke positively about being within reach of using quantum computers in areas that can solve meaningful problems. Related stocks surged yesterday, with Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) up 25% and Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) rising over 11%.
3. Oracle Benefits From Cloud Boom
Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) surged almost 8% after the market closed thanks to a strong set of quarterly results, with an upbeat outlook focused on a healthy pipeline of cloud computing contracts.
- "Oracle will be the number one builder and operator of cloud infrastructure data centers": Founder Larry Ellison said the focus is clearly on cloud, with that part of the business seeing a 52% jump in revenue in the most recent quarter, with it expected to grow more than 70% in the next fiscal year.
- Capex spending up from $7 billion in 2024 to $21 billion in fiscal 2025: The tally for the new fiscal year is expected to be above $25 billion, with Ellison stating it's needed as "demand right now seems almost insatiable."
4. Oklo: Nuclear Power Poster Child
TMF chief investment officer Andy Cross
Microreactor technology has huge potential to help solve our global energy demands. It's also very early days of this developing technology. Oklo (NYSE:OKLO), along with NuScale Power (NYSE:SMR), is a poster child for the nuclear power renaissance so I'm watching it. It would fit only for the most aggressive and extra-long-term-focused investors, although right now I think it has a ton of momentum traders riding the wave. I'm bullish on nuclear energy and believe there will be more than a few winners to emerge over the next decade. At this point, I would look more toward the likes of BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) or Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) or Amentum (NYSE:AMTM) as they are more proven and stable. Let some of the enthusiasm dissipate in Oklo (and SMR), and even then only as a smaller, aggressive, speculative position as it finds its operational and business model footing (which will still take years).
5. Your Take
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