
Markets Rally Amid Mixed Data
This week's economic data revealed a fascinating disconnect: while markets rallied on expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts, the underlying fundamentals tell a more complex story. The headline grabber was the U.S.-China tariff truce extension, but the real news was the unprecedented side deal requiring Nvidia and AMD to pay the government 15% of their China chip revenues—marking a shift from pure trade warfare to what experts call "monetized trade policy." Meanwhile, inflation data delivered mixed signals that challenge the case for aggressive monetary easing, with producer prices surging 0.9% monthly as businesses finally began passing tariff costs to consumers after months of absorption.