U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Oct. 9, 2025. <\/p>\n
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters<\/p>\n
Artificial intelligence (in other words, “OpenAI and the companies in its ecosystem<\/a>“) has been turbocharging stock markets since ChatGPT was released in 2022.<\/p>\n The clearest example of the sustained rally we’ve been enjoying: In recent weeks, the S&P 500<\/a> basically hit a record close each time the index rises \u2014 even if it’s a miniscule 0.05% tick upwards.<\/p>\n That’s not to say investors aren’t worried about a possible AI bubble forming. If you squint a bit, Nvidia’s<\/a> huge investment deal with OpenAI can look like one hand passing a wad of cash to another<\/a>, while OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate project, despite only having one “star” in its name, might need something like the energy of five to power it<\/a>.<\/p>\n None of that, however, has halted stocks’ long-run march upward. Until one man said a few words.<\/p>\n On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump, in response to China tightening exports of rare earths, introduced new 100% tariffs on the Asian giant, on top of existing rates. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software,” Trump added<\/a>.<\/p>\n That single measure wiped out almost $800 billion from major tech firms, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite<\/a> falling the most since April, when, well, we all know what happened then.<\/p>\n One of the few people that, with a single utterance, could move billions is Taylor Swift. Trump is another<\/a>. And “the rest is History,” as Trump wrote.<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n Trump slaps new tariffs on China. The president announced tariffs of 100% on imports from China<\/a> starting Nov. 1, in response to Beijing tightening its exports of rare earth metals<\/a>. However, Trump said Sunday that “all will be fine” with China<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chinese exports growth beats expectations. Shipments out of the country grew 8.3% in September<\/a> from a year earlier, higher than the Reuters poll’s estimate for a 7.1% increase and rebounding from August’s six-month low<\/a>. Imports also surpassed expectations.<\/p>\n Israeli hostages released. Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday released the first seven surviving Israeli hostages on Monday<\/a>, marking the first stage of a ceasefire deal brokered with Trump’s help.<\/p>\n Stocks hit by trade war reigniting. Major U.S. indexes slumped Friday<\/a>, with tech behemoths losing $770 billion in market capitalization<\/a>. On Sunday night stateside, U.S. futures rebound<\/a>. Asia-Pacific markets, however, fell Monday, with Chinese stocks declining the most<\/a>.<\/p>\n [PRO] China will remain leader in robotics. That’s according to Morgan Stanley, which wrote in a Sept. 30 report \u2014 shared with the media last week \u2014 that there’s “potential in Chinese manufacturing” to grow rapidly in the next few years<\/a>.<\/p>\n