Via its FOMC, the Fed, as expected, cut the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points, from 4.00-4.25% to 3.75-4.00%.
Markets didn't respond significantly until Chairman Jerome Powell mentioned at his press conference that another 0.25% cut in December wasn't a sure bet. Stocks slumped on his comments, but immediately began to rise once he stopped talking.
Later in the evening - which was morning in South Korea - President Trump met with China's President, Xi Jinping, for about 90 minutes, both coming away looking somewhat satisfied. Trump left immediately afterwards on Air Force One, heading back to Washington.
On the plane trip, trump characterized the meeting as a "12" on a scale of 1 to 10. That's all well and good, but what actually was accomplished by his four-day trip to the Far East was mere posturing and posing without any concrete agreements.
The president made a boatload of comments about how well things were going (everybody's used to the braggadocio by now), but the trip produced little more than memorandums of understanding, frameworks, vague commitments with a swath of countries on a variety of issues - from rare earth deals to tariffs - lots of promises devoid of details.
Even the heavily-publicized meeting with Xi on Thursday produced little in the way of concrete solutions. Essentially, China agreed to slow their roll on rare earth mineral regulations, the U.S. agreed to knock general tariffs back to 47% from 57%, and there was some kind of understanding about China slowing the flow of fentanyl precursors and buying some soybeans from U.S. farmers.
It was all fairly vague and nebulous. Trump could have accomplished as much by phone, or, he might as well have never started his whole tariff regime in the first place, since he promised to roll back most of them during his trip. Essentially, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia paid the president extensive lip service.
Notably, Trump did not meet with anybody from either India or Indonesia, two BRIICS members. Indonesia joined BRICS earlier this year (January 7) and is a major miner and refiner of rare earth minerals. North Korea's Kim Jong Un didn't even want to talk to him. Meanwhile, Russia continues to pound Ukraine into dust. Putin and Trump aren't talking. The Alaska Summit? Poof. It's gone, having produced nothing, just like, it's suspected, this Asian jaunt.
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5
In card-playing terms, Trump bluffed and nobody blinked. The "trillions" the U.S. was expecting to rake in from tariffs will subsequently be reduced to "billions" and Americans will end up paying more for everything imported. Thank you, Mr. President. Now do India, Brazil, and Canada. And, while you're demonstrating your incredible negotiating skills, how about opening up the government that's been shut down for nearly a month. In case you haven't noticed, that's your government, the United States government, the one behind the "America First" agenda.
It was sure enough a TACO Thursday for Trump. His tariff policies have produced some revenue - the government collected some $151 billion through the end of September, with expectations of $3 trillion over the next ten years. While that sounds good, even great, one has to consider the overlaying context that federal expenditures will top $7 trillion this year and the deficit is expected to be north of $2 trillion. If tariffs produce $500 billion (they likely won't) in revenue in fiscal 2026, that's all well and good, but hardly sufficient. Americans will pay more for most goods and services, making them poorer, decreasing the amount of taxes that they pay.
Looks like a wash, almost. And, that's if the Supreme Court doesn't rule against Trump's tariffs later in November.
As Money Daily has been saying for the past few weeks, Trump's bombastic style is all for show. It's about how great America is, when it's actually been in decline for decades. Trump's tariffs and "re-shoring" plans for increasing domestic manufacturing aren't going to solve most of its basic problems: inflation, inflation, and inflation. The tariffs, along with the Fed lowering interest rates, actually stoke inflation.
For all the talk, the country is going in reverse.
America First is a complete sham, a meme, a bumper-sticker talking point for the government, the media, and Wall Street.
At the Close, Wednesday, October 30, 2025:
Dow: 47,632.00, -74.37 (-0.16%)
NASDAQ: 23,958.47, +130.98 (+0.55%)
S&P 500: 6,890.59, -0.30 (-0.00%)
NYSE Composite: 21,525.93, -163.62 (-0.75%)
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