China's Grip on Rare Earths Gives Xi Leverage in US Trade Duel
After the US and China agreed in Geneva to lower tariffs from astronomical heights, tensions are now surging over access to chips and rare earths. And Beijing increasingly appears to have an edge.
President Donald Trump on Friday accused China of violating the agreement struck last month, and sought a call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to sort things out.
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CNN
28 minutes ago
- CNN
What are stablecoins? Everything to know about the crypto being debated in Congress
Stablecoins are on the verge of going mainstream, analysts say, as a landmark regulatory bill makes its way through Congress. The Senate is deliberating the GENIUS Act, which would provide a framework for regulating stablecoins. The bill last week passed a major procedural hurdle in the Senate after initial resistance from some Democrats. Stablecoins are a type of crypto asset that is tied to the value of another currency, such as the US dollar or gold. They were initially created as a way for crypto investors to store their money but have grown in popularity in recent years for their use in digital payments. The landmark bill would provide a boost of legitimacy to the crypto industry and is another example of how cryptocurrencies have had a major revival under President Donald Trump's second term. Proponents of crypto have welcomed the focus on advancing stablecoin regulations. Yet critics have pointed to the Trump family's ties to the crypto industry: For example, World Liberty Financial, a company tied to the Trump family, has issued its own stablecoin. 'Stablecoins seem (to be) here to stay,' analysts at JPMorgan Chase said in an April note. 'A few years ago, we probably would have debated the accuracy of that sentence. Not today.' While cryptocurrencies are known for being volatile and fluctuating in value, stablecoins are supposed to be, as their name suggests, stable. This is because stablecoins are pegged one-to-one to another asset. They are most often linked to the US dollar, making one stablecoin worth $1. Companies that issue stablecoins hold other assets to back their coins and assure buyers about their value. For example, a company issuing stablecoins pegged to the US dollar could buy and hold high-quality assets like US government bonds. Two of the major stablecoin issuers are Tether, which issues USDT, and Circle, which issues USDC — and both of these stablecoins are pegged one-to-one to the dollar. Tether accounts for 62% of the total stablecoin market, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. The total market value of stablecoins surged from $20 billion in 2020 to $246 billion in May 2025, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. Stablecoins emerged in 2014 as way for crypto investors to park their money while buying and selling other more volatile cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Since then, Stablecoins have ballooned in popularity particularly for their potential use in digital payments, said Darrell Duffie, a professor of finance at Stanford University. Stablecoins, given their stable value, can serve as a medium of exchange and function as a digital currency. The crypto coins have emerged as useful in helping speed up payments. 'Cross-border payments are providing the most exciting new use cases,' Duffie said. 'Making a payment, such as a remittance or a vendor payment to or from an emerging-market country, can now be made faster and at lower cost than a conventional correspondent banking payment.' While stablecoins are significantly less volatile than other crypto coins, they are not without risks. If the assets backing the coin drop in value and the one-to-one peg falls apart, it could cause the equivalent of a bank run, said Duffie. Stablecoins gained notoriety in 2022 when TerraUSD, an obscure type of coin called an algorithmic stablecoin, crashed in value and caused a panic among investors. There are also security risks like people forgetting the pass-code to their crypto wallet. The GENIUS act stands for 'Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins of 2025.' Circle would likely benefit from increased regulation more than Tether as Circle is a US-based company while Tether is based in El Salvador, Del Wright, a professor at Louisiana State University Law School who specializes in crypto, told CNN. If the legislation passes, it could usher in mainstream adoption of stablecoins for digital payments and spur growth in the stablecoin industry, said Christian Catalini, founder of the cryptoeconomics lab at MIT. He added that traditional Wall Street firms and startups would also compete to offer stablecoins. Visa (V) in May announced a partnership with Bridge, a stablecoin company owned by fintech startup Stripe, to enable payments using stablecoin in countries across Latin America. 'Stablecoins are on the cusp of mainstream adoption in 2025 as the US pushes forward with landmark legislation,' analysts at Deutsche Bank said in a May note. Despite the resistance in the Senate, 'we still expect progress this year.'
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Wall Street futures edge up as investors await key jobs data
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Thursday as investors looked ahead to the monthly jobs report to gauge the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies on the labor market and the Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory. Following Wednesday's weaker-than-expected U.S. private jobs and services sector data, Friday's non-farm payrolls report will come under sharp scrutiny as investors fear that Trump's erratic trade policies will drive a slowdown in economic growth. The data comes ahead of the Fed's policy decision later this month, where policymakers are widely expected to hold interest rates. Traders currently see at least two rate cuts by the end of this year, as per pricing in money markets. Despite continued calls from Trump to slash interest rates, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has opted to stand pat so far, awaiting further data to help dictate the policy decision as tariff volatility prevails. On Wednesday, Washington's doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum came to effect and it also marked Trump's deadline for trading partners to make their best offers to avoid other punishing import levies from taking effect in early July. Investors focused on tariff negotiations between Washington and trading partners, with Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to speak sometime this week as tensions simmer between the world's two biggest economies. U.S. equities rallied sharply in May, with investors boosting the S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq to their biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2023, thanks to a softening of Trump's harsh trade stance and upbeat earnings reports. The S&P 500 remains nearly 3% below record highs touched in February. Data scheduled for Thursday include initial jobless claims and international trade data at 08:30 a.m. ET. U.S. central bank officials including Fed Board Governor Adriana Kugler, Fed Kansas City President Jeffrey Schmid and Fed Philadelphia President Patrick Harker are scheduled to speak later in the day. At 5:53 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 45 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 3 points, or 0.05%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 10 points, or 0.05% Most megacap and growth stocks were mixed in premarket trading. Tesla fell 1.7%. Among early movers, shares of MongoDB jumped nearly 15% after the software company gave an upbeat annual forecast and reported quarterly results above estimates. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Thousands of Club World Cup tickets unsold, Brailsford steps back, Ronaldo's Portugal winner
The Athletic FC ⚽ is The Athletic's daily football (or soccer, if you prefer) newsletter. Sign up to receive it directly to your inbox. Hello! It's almost Club World Cup time. Don't all rush at once. ✂️ More CWC ticket price cuts 🚶 Brailsford steps aside at Man Utd 💰 £55m bid for Bryan Mbeumo 🏎️ Leeds Utd race Red Bull F1 The Athletic's Felipe Cardenas has an interview today with Mattias Grafstrom. I don't imagine the name will immediately ring a bell, but it's worth remembering. Grafstrom, a Swede, is FIFA's secretary general, with more than a little power. He was once chief of staff for its president, Gianni Infantino. Advertisement He's also the man who redesigned FIFA's Club World Cup (CWC), creating the 32-team tournament which starts in the United States next week. It was interesting to see him tell Felipe that the CWC was 'not a commercial venture as such'. From the outside looking in, it doesn't seem to be anything else. DAZN, for instance, paid $1billion for broadcast rights (which no other outlet wanted at that price — but let's not get bogged down in that). The 2025 winners will earn $125m, a Champions League-esque fee for considerably less effort. Grafstrom says FIFA is trying to grow the sport but, fundamentally, it's taken big money for some of the teams involved to give the competition their full attention. Unfortunately for FIFA, the paying public aren't rushing to buy into it. Adam Crafton reports that the opening match, between Inter Miami and Egyptian team Al Ahly in Miami on June 14, is struggling to sell out. The game, likely to feature Lionel Messi (above), is nowhere near capacity, so ticket prices are being cut. Is a late rush coming? Or is the model created by Grafstom failing to land? FIFA is running a dynamic pricing model for the 2025 CWC. In essence, the cost of tickets is dictated by demand: the more popular a fixture, the more it costs to attend. Real Madrid games, for instance, are holding up. None of their fixtures are cheaper than $132. Boca Juniors look like drawing crowds too. But sources spoken to by Adam said Miami were looking at an attendance of lower than 20,000 — 45,000 beneath capacity — for the first fixture. FIFA denied this but would not specify a figure itself. Tickets for that game are available for a lowest price of $55, far below the $230 being charged in January and $349 when the CWC draw was made before the turn of the year. There's a suspicion that plenty of CWC matches will play out in front of swathes of empty seats, an image FIFA wants to avoid. Advertisement Infantino has said previously he wasn't 'worried at all' about ticket sales, because the FIFA boss is a can-do sort. The world governing body insists fans from over 130 countries have purchased seats to date. Grafstrom told Felipe that the CWC should help football expand further in the States. It makes all the right noises, FIFA, but how much is it telling itself what it wants to hear? Sir Dave Brailsford is widely known as Mr Marginal Gains. In the days when he ran Team Sky, before trouble enveloped them, the cycling outfit were the Tour de France's tour de force. The 61-year-old is a key figure at INEOS, Manchester United's minority shareholder, so it stood to reason that when INEOS took a stake in United in 2023, Brailsford would bring his competitive mind to Old Trafford. He did — but yesterday it emerged that he's stepping back again. In INEOS' 18 months, United haven't made marginal gains. They haven't made large gains either. Brailsford has been in the thick of everything that's gone on — a period of on-field regression and deep financial cuts — and his return to the role of INEOS' director of sport can be taken as an admission that his input hasn't worked. At all. In another shuffle, Jason Wilcox is being promoted by United from technical director to director of football. It's a fresh rearrangement of the deckchairs, but Wilcox has a part to play. Not so Brailsford, who won't be roundly missed. You know it's the off season when professional footballers are participating in an on-field drag race with a Formula One car. That was the scene at Elland Road, where three members of Leeds United's squad tried (and predictably failed) to outpace Red Bull's RB7 model. Footnote: it didn't collide with any of them. Advertisement The purpose of the stunt? No idea, beyond a bit of fun, and the ground staff must have been thrilled. But in a serious sense, it's an example of how intertwined Red Bull is becoming with Leeds, its first equity investment in the English game. The purchase of club shares by Red Bull last year was going to be scrutinised, because of its contentious ownership history elsewhere in the world. But far from keeping its head down in Leeds, the energy drink giant — a minority partner — has its branding on the club's kit and its 2011 F1 car on their pitch. There's no missing the collaboration. Leeds' chairman, Paraag Marathe, said at the outset that a majority sale to Red Bull was not on the table. Perhaps that holds true. But I'm constantly fascinated to see if and how its interest evolves, in a league it is yet to crack. (Selected games, times ET/UK) UEFA Nations League semi-final: Spain vs France, 3pm/8pm — Fox Sports, Fubo/Amazon Prime. CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers: Ecuador vs Brazil, 7pm/12am — Fanatiz PPV/Premier Sports; Paraguay vs Uruguay, 7pm/12pm — Fanatiz PPV (U.S. only); Chile vs Argentina, 9pm/2am — Fanatiz PPV (U.S. only). Virtually nobody on England's side of the Irish Sea would have registered the quiet, five-figure trade between Liverpool and Ringmahon Rangers in 2015. It moved a teenage Caoimhin Kelleher from Ireland to Anfield, long before the goalkeeper's name meant anything to the wider world. Ringmahon's secretary, Sean Fitzgerald, had the presence of mind to sweeten the deal with a 20 per cent sell-on clause. A decade on, and as a knock-on effect of Kelleher's £12.5m transfer from Liverpool to Brentford on Tuesday, it's about to pay out in the grassroots club's favour. The precise amount is yet to be calculated — but Fitzgerald isn't far wrong when he says the windfall should protect Ringmahon for 100 years. Safe hands all round.
