Welcome to Markets Desk, here's what's moving the tape this hour.
The Trump-Xi summit is putting Chinese automakers front and center, and Detroit is watching closely. U.S. manufacturers and lawmakers are pressing hard to keep import restrictions in place, wary that any softening in trade posture could crack open the door to lower-cost Chinese vehicles flooding American roads.
Shifting to tech, Palantir is on track for its highest close of the year, and the momentum is real. Last quarter's earnings lit the fuse, and the company is now riding a wave of genuine enterprise AI adoption — not just hype. Investors who stayed patient through the volatility are being rewarded in a meaningful way today.
And stepping back to the macro picture, new data shows U.S. business activity is expanding at its fastest pace in more than four years. Despite elevated borrowing costs, lingering inflation pressures, and geopolitical friction, the American economy appears to have actually accelerated heading into autumn — a signal that confounds the bears who called for a slowdown.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
