Breakfast News: China Deal Cuts Price Fears

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1. U.S. and China Reach Trade Agreement

President Trump announced a formal trade deal between the U.S. and China yesterday, after China had agreed to remove non-tariff barriers. There were few details, though a White House official said it cements agreement on “how we can implement expediting rare earths shipments to the U.S. again.”

• “We’re going to do top 10 deals, put them in the right category, and then these other countries will fit behind”: With less than two weeks left before the current 90-day pause on duties expires, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted at flexibility in reaching broader agreements. The president suggested India could be next.
• Today’s inflation report is expected to show the PCE index rose 0.1% monthly in May: While inflation is cooling, core annual rates remain above the Fed’s 2% target. Further trade agreement progress should hopefully soften inflationary pressure from tariffs and encourage earlier interest rate cuts.

2. Nike Profit Plunges but Stock Pops 10%

Nike (NKE 15.32%) posted an 86% fall in fourth-quarter earnings per share yesterday, with revenue down 12%. CEO Elliott Hill said the results were “not where we want them to be.” But they were enough to beat Wall Street’s low expectations, and an after-market surge drove the stock up more than 10%.

• Demand creation spending up 15% to $1.3 billion: Nike’s Win Now strategy – centering on key sports – pushed up costs in Q4, but the company expects the impact to ease in future quarters.
• A Superscore of 74 in TMF’s Moneyball database: Contributing Fool analyst Tim Green wrote “Nike’s turnaround is going to take time, if the fiscal fourth-quarter report is any indication.” We first need to see an end to revenue and profit falls, as the company didn’t offer next-quarter guidance.

3. AI Talent War Heats Up

In the battle to attract top people at ‘Magnificent 7’ companies, vice president of Generative AI at Hidden Gems recommendation Amazon (AMZN 0.84%) Vasi Philomin has departed after eight years. He told Reuters he left for another company, but did not provide details.

• Boosting $14.3 billion Scale AI investment: Meta (META 0.36%) has successfully poached three top researchers from OpenAI to join the superintelligence team led by Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang.
• “Thank you, Elon, for pushing us all!”: Despite praise for his boss, Tesla (TSLA -0.05%) vice president of manufacturing and operations Omead Afshar has been given the push, CNBC confirms. It follows months of declining car sales in global markets.

4. SoftBank Takes on the AI World

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told shareholders at today’s AGM he wants the company to become world leader in artificial superintelligence – which he describes as AI that can beat humans by a factor of 10,000 – in the next 10 years.

• “I’m all in on OpenAI”: Son puts SoftBank’s total investment in OpenAI at $32 billion now, saying he expects the ChatGPT pioneer to some day launch an IPO. SoftBank has also plowed $6.5 billion into acquiring semiconductor designer Ampere.
• Sold Nvidia in 2019: Son doesn’t always get his acquisition timings right, having sold SoftBank’s 4.9% stake in Nvidia (NVDA 1.45%) – then worth $3.3 billion – in 2019. Today it would be worth around $185 billion.

5. Your Take

In yesterday’s Evening News, we reported Loop Capital set a new price target for Nvidia at $250, which implies a potential $6 trillion valuation.

Sitting with a $3.78 trillion market cap today, when do you think Nvidia will reach $6 trillion: Within 12 months; 1-5 years; Between 2030-2040; More than 15 years’ time; or never? Debate with friends and family, or become a member to hear what your fellow Fools are saying.