China's Construction Equipment Sales Surge, Signaling Recovery
Domestic excavator sales, which usually ramp up as builders prepare for projects, climbed almost 23% from a year earlier during the January-June period, data compiled by the China Construction Machinery Association showed. The equipment is a key barometer of activity in the construction industry and can serve as a proxy for steel demand.
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US trade advisor says Trump tariff rates unlikely to change
New US tariff rates are "pretty much set" with little immediate room for negotiation, Donald Trump's trade advisor said in remarks aired Sunday, also defending the president's politically driven levies against Brazil. Trump, who has wielded tariffs as a tool of American economic might, has set tariff rates for dozens of economies including the European Union at between 10 and 41 percent come August 7, his new hard deadline for the duties. In a pre-taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said "the coming days" are not likely to see changes in the tariff rates. "A lot of these are set rates pursuant to deals. Some of these deals are announced, some are not, others depend on the level of the trade deficit or surplus we may have with the country," Greer said. "These tariff rates are pretty much set." Undoubtedly some trade ministers "want to talk more and see how they can work in a different way with the United States," he added. But "we're seeing truly the contours of the president's tariff plan right now with these rates." Last Thursday, the former real estate developer announced hiked tariff rates on dozens of US trade partners. They will kick in on August 7 instead of August 1, which had previously been touted as a hard deadline. Among the countries facing steep new levies is Brazil. South America's largest economy is being hit with 50 percent tariffs on exports to the United States -- albeit with significant exemptions for key products such as aircraft and orange juice. Trump has openly admitted he is punishing Brazil for prosecuting his political ally Jair Bolsonaro, the ex-president accused of plotting a coup in a bid to cling to power. The US president has described the case as a "witch hunt." Greer said it was not unusual for Trump to use tariff tools for geopolitical purposes. "The president has seen in Brazil, like he's seen in other countries, a misuse of law, a misuse of democracy," Greer told CBS. "It is normal to use these tools for geopolitical issues." Trump was "elected to assess the foreign affairs situation... and take appropriate action," he added. Meanwhile White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett said that while talks are expected to continue over the next week with some US trade partners, he concurred with Greer's tariffs assessment in that the bulk of the rates "are more or less locked in." Asked by the host of NBC's Sunday talk show "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" if Trump could change tariff rates should financial markets react negatively, Hassett said: "I would rule it out, because these are the final deals." Legal challenges have been filed against some of Trump's tariffs arguing he overstepped his authority. An appeals court panel on Thursday appeared skeptical of the government's arguments, though the case may be ultimately decided at the Supreme Court. mlm/des
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Sterling (STRL) Reports Q2: Everything You Need To Know Ahead Of Earnings
Civil infrastructure construction company Sterling Infrastructure (NASDAQ:STRL) will be announcing earnings results this Monday after the bell. Here's what to look for. Sterling beat analysts' revenue expectations by 5.4% last quarter, reporting revenues of $430.9 million, down 2.1% year on year. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with full-year EBITDA guidance exceeding analysts' expectations and full-year revenue guidance exceeding analysts' expectations. Is Sterling a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it's free. This quarter, analysts are expecting Sterling's revenue to decline 4.9% year on year to $554.4 million, a reversal from the 11.6% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.25 per share. The majority of analysts covering the company have reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Sterling has missed Wall Street's revenue estimates four times over the last two years. Looking at Sterling's peers in the construction and engineering segment, some have already reported their Q2 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. EMCOR delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 17.4%, beating analysts' expectations by 4.9%, and MasTec reported revenues up 19.7%, topping estimates by 4.2%. EMCOR traded down 2.3% following the results while MasTec was also down 8%. Read our full analysis of EMCOR's results here and MasTec's results here. Investors in the construction and engineering segment have had steady hands going into earnings, with share prices flat over the last month. Sterling is up 11.1% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $256.33 (compared to the current share price of $263.30). Unless you've been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story. StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here. 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
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Economy is getting worse under Trump's leadership, Americans say in new poll on eve of his tariff D-Day
A new poll shows Donald Trump underwater on the issue of his tariff agenda just as the president announced a new wave of levies affecting dozens of countries. On Thursday night, Trump signed an executive order that sets new tariffs on U.S. trading partners that are due to go into effect on August 7. Canada is one of the countries hardest hit, facing an increased rate of 35 percent. However, while Trump has been gung-ho on threatening other nations with stiffer levies, it would seem voters are not so convinced it is the right approach. Trump won a second term in November boosted by the same issues that propelled him to victory the first time around. Concerns over immigration and the economy were at the forefront of voters' minds, though he received a key boost from the implosion of Joe Biden's campaign.A Times of London/YouGov poll out Thursday said the president's tariff agenda is one of the biggest anchors driving down his approval numbers. Some 48 percent of Americans graded Trump's job performance over the first six months of his administration as poor, compared to just 21 percent who rated it excellent, 16 percent who rated it good and 11 percent who rated it as fair. On the core issue of tariffs, Trump is clearly tanking — despite months of pronouncements from the White House of America's impending 'Golden Age.' Four in ten Americans say that Trump's tariffs will make the country poorer and stifle economic growth. Just 26 percent believe the White House's line about economic prosperity coming down the pike. And most alarmingly for the White House, inflation still ranks as the No. 1 issue for voters. That could prove to be dangerous ground for the president as the summer concludes with potentially sharp increases to consumer prices stemming from the president's reciprocal tariffs. A CBS News poll further dove into the president's declining numbers on the economy. Six in 10 of voters under 30 now say that Trump's policies are harming the economy, and making them worse off financially. Seven in 10 voters in the same category say that they didn't believe the president is focused enough on lowering prices for consumers. If Trump is losing ground with the younger voters he peeled off from Democrats in 2024, Republicans are set for trouble in the midterm elections next year. Polling isn't yet registering significant voter support for the GOP budget reconciliation package, the 'big, beautiful bill', as it's been overshadowed by the president's tariffs and mass deportation agenda, among other issues. Another factor driving down Trump's numbers with younger voters is Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department blew up the investigation into Epstein, a convicted pedophile and sex criminal who died in 2019, when in early July the agency declared that the billionaire financier died by suicide, as had previously been found, and that no evidence linking him to accomplices, other than Ghislaine Maxwell, was uncovered. The sudden declaration that the 'Epstein Client List', which Vice President JD Vance and others in the administration pledged to release, supposedly did not exist at all erupted into a wildfire on the MAGA right, particularly among Trump's younger supporters. Trump then spent the month of July embracing a series of increasingly obvious attempts at distraction, infuriating many and driving speculation even higher. The Times/YouGov poll found that a much larger share of voters, more than four in ten, think that Trump and his team have partially or completely lied in their public statements regarding the case. Less than 20 percent of Americans believe them. Immigration has been another issue where the president has lost ground as the White House and Department of Homeland Security have accelerated mass deportation programs under his second term. Images of immigration enforcement raids have caused massive protests in Los Angeles and alarmed many Americans including Trump-supporting independents around the country. Nearly every poll on the Decision Desk HQ Average, with the exception of two surveys conducted by Republican outfits, now shows Trump with popularity ratings in the negative, some by double digits. Some pollsters have speculated that Trump began at a deficit other presidents escaped in their first six months due in large part to the circumstances of his 2024 victory and the rank unpopularity that the Democratic Party encouraged with its jumbled mess of a re-election campaign for Biden and later Kamala Harris. Coming into 2025, the president was already burdened by some of the highest disapproval ratings of any incoming president in history.
