WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: Bank Earnings, Nvidia Gains, MP Materials Deal

Episode Date: July 19, 2025

Why were bank stocks down if bank earnings were strong? And how is Nvidia back in business in China? Plus, which company did MP Materials strike a deal with this week? Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to this year's championship game. This is the big one. With Amex Platinum, you have access to an annual dining credit to some of the hottest restaurants around town. Score! So you can raise the bar on game night. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at amex.ca slash y-a-m-x. Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, July 19th.

I'm Francesca Fontana for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. The stock market shrugged off the latest tariff threats from President Trump to start this week, and it looked like investor focus was primarily on the economic data and earnings, including a bunch of bank earnings, which I'll talk about in a bit.

On Tuesday, we got June's consumer price index, which showed that inflation picked up last month. And while the headline number came in line with forecasts, price increases for goods like furniture and major appliances indicate to analysts and economists that Trump's trade policies may be raising the cost of living. Then on Thursday, investors welcomed better-than-expected retail sales and weekly jobless claims. June's 0.6% rise in sales largely reversed the drop that we saw for May, suggesting that tariff-driven price rises and broader uncertainty aren't deterring shoppers. All in all, the major indexes ended mixed for the week.

The Dow finished 1% lower, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, both of which notched new record closes during the week, ended higher. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the NASDAQ gained 1.5%. First up, we had a flurry of bank earnings Tuesday and Wednesday. The long and the short of it, results were strong. So why were the stocks weighed down?

I will tell you. So even though these reports from America's biggest banks signaled a resilient U.S. economy in spite of ongoing trade turmoil, the financial sector was largely down on two things. Number one, notes of caution in some banks' reports regarding the rest of the year. And number two, uncertainty around the future for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as far as Trump is concerned. The president on Tuesday raised the possibility of firing Powell during a closed-door meeting before denying that he was planning to oust Powell the next day.

Now, one stock that bucked the larger trend was Citigroup. Its shares gained 3.7% on Tuesday, closing at their highest level since the bank's near-collapse in 2008, and then surpassed that level again with Thursday's close and Friday's close. And on the week, Citigroup gained more than 7.5%. Next up, one $4 trillion company is back in business in China. Can you guess which one? Just kidding. There's only one $4 trillion company in the world, and that's Nvidia, the chipmaker that's been on one heck of a run in the AI boom.

The company this week said it's received assurances from the White House that it can resume selling one of its advanced AI chips to Chinese customers, a decision that apparently came days after chief executive Jensen Huang met with President Trump. Now you may recall that back in April, as the U.S.-China trade war was ramping up, the Commerce Department restricted sales of that chip in China. Nvidia's shares gained 4% on Tuesday, and on the week, the stock notched a gain of about 4.5%. Finally, I nerded out about Rare Earths magnets last week and I am doing it again this week. And not just because I am fascinated by them, which is true, but because America's largest

Rare Earths producer has struck another big deal in its efforts to derail China's dominance. It's the same company we talked about last week, MP Materials. On Tuesday, MP announced a $500 million deal to supply Apple with rare earth magnets to use in iPhones and other products, with shipments expected to begin in 2027. And that's not the only big deal MP has struck in recent days. Dedicated listeners, you heard last week about the Pentagon's big investment in the company becoming its largest shareholder. And on the week, holy cow, jumped 40%. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in The Score, my column

in the Wall Street Journal's Exchange section. Today's show was produced by Zoe Kolkin, with supervising producer Michael Kosmetis. I'm Francesca Fontana. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next Saturday.