The US has gone on the offensive in the trade war with China, with the White House yesterday announcing a raft of tariff increases on USD 18 bn worth of Chinese imports that will each begin taking effect between 2024 and 2026.

Biden has his eyes set on green tech, deciding that tariffs on Chinese EVs will quadruple to 100%, those on lithium-ion EV batteries to more than triple to 25%, those on solar cells to double to 50%. And he hasn’t forgotten about semiconductors, as tariffs on chips from the world’s second biggest economy are set to double to 50%.

Biden’s tough talk seems to be directed to US voters as much as it does to China, warning the world’s factory yesterday that “when you make tactics like this, you’re not competing, it’s not competition, it’s cheating. And we’ve seen damage here in America” (watch, runtime: 22:30). The US is a minor market for Chinese EVs today.

YOU HAVE TO LOVE IT- Evli Emerging Frontier Fund has beaten 99% of its peers over the past five years. It’s next big thing? small-cap stocks, this time in Turkey. An ambitious fund manager that’s building a story about a great segment of the economy in a country that has plenty of challenges — and tons of potential? What’s not to like. Bloomberg has more.

ALSO- BlackRock is making its presence felt in the crypto space after building up USD16.7 bn in assets since the launch of its crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January 2024. Despite initial reluctance to move into crypto — which CEO Larry Fink called “an index of money laundering” in 2017 — BlackRock is now the second-largest BTC fund after market leader Grayscale. The asset manager has also rolled out a crypto treasury fund that is already being used by hedge funds and money markets to source collateral for crypto trades.

MARKETS THIS MORNING-

It’s a mixed morning in Asia: The Shanghai Composite is down, the Nikkei is up, and markets in both Hong Kong and South Korea are closed in observance of Buddha’s birthday. Futures suggest European and US markets will open in the green later today as traders wait for a key US consumer price report later today.

ADX

9,058

-0.4% (YTD: -5.4%)

DFM

4,137

-0.9% (YTD: +1.9%)

Nasdaq Dubai UAE20

3,545

-0.8% (YTD: -7.7%)

USD : AED CBUAE

Buy 3.67

Sell 3.67

EIBOR

5.1% o/n

5.3% 1 yr

TASI

12,121

-1.1% (YTD: +1.3%)

EGX30

25,340

-0.2% (YTD: +1.8%)

S&P 500

5,247

+0.5% (YTD: +10.0%)

FTSE 100

8,428

+0.2% (YTD: +9.0%)

Euro Stoxx 50

5,080

0.0% (YTD: +12.4%)

Brent crude

USD 82.38

-1.2%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.34

-0.2%

Gold

USD 2,363

+0.1%

BTC

USD 61,595

-2.1% (YTD: +45.9%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The ADX fell 0.4% yesterday on turnover of AED 941.6 mn The index is down 5.4% YTD.

In the green: Bank of Sharjah (+7.3%), Agthia Group (+4.2%) and Adnoc Drilling (+3.7%).

In the red: Fujairah Building Industries (-9.8%), Palms Sports (-5.8%) and E7 Group (-5.6%).

Over on the DFM, the index fell 0.9% on turnover of AED 694.2 mn. Meanwhile Nasdaq Dubai dropped 0.8%.

CORPORATE ACTIONS-

Aramex has tapped Arqaam Securities as a liquidity provider for its listed shares on the DFM, the company stated in a DFM disclosure (pdf).

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