After a solid end to last week, stocks are gaining a bit more ground in early trading today. Crude oil is up with the dollar, while gold and silver are lower and Treasuries are flattish.
The Trump Administration continues to find new and novel ways to extract revenue in exchange for trade concessions. The latest: Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) will do a “revenue share” deal with the US government, giving it 15 cents of every dollar in sales they get selling H20 and MI308 chips to Chinese customers.
That kind of ultra-targeted export levy is highly unusual, but it follows several other targeted tariffs on imports of various semiconductors, metals, and other products. While neither of those chips are the most advanced ones NVDA and AMD sell, they can still be used to help with Artificial Intelligence (AI) model training and other tasks. NVDA and AMD shares were slightly lower on the news.
NVDA, AMD, LIT, PSKY (YTD % Change)
Data by YCharts
Global lithium stocks are rallying thanks to an “anti-involution” push in China. In short, the Chinese government is trying to eliminate production overcapacity and deflation in materials like lithium, sectors like steel, and industries like e-commerce and Electric Vehicles (EVs). As part of that trend, the battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., or CATL, said it would shut down its massive Jianxiawo lithium mine for at least three months.
That mine accounts for about 6% of worldwide lithium output. Others in the area account for another 5% of output. If more close, it will accelerate the elimination of a lithium supply glut and boost returns for Western mine operators. Chinese lithium futures surged by the daily limit of 8% Monday, while the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) was recently trading up by about 6%.
Fresh off the closure of an $8 billion merger and rebranding as Paramount Skydance Corp. (PSKY), the media conglomerate said it would buy the rights to UFC live fighting events for $7.7 billion. The seven-year deal kicks in for 2026 when a current pay-per-view deal between UFC and ESPN expires. Subscribers to Paramount+ will then be able to watch 13 marquee events plus 30 “Fight Nights” at no additional charge.
