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U.S.-Australia Team Up
Trump makes a rare earths deal with Australia to fight China.
Ankit Sinha
October 21, 2025
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Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity
📬 Delivered to 150,000+ ambitious readers
🎯 In this issue:
Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter
Market Summary: Stocks climb as Apple reclaims the crown
What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks
Technical Trip: Interview Question with BlackRock
Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions
The Daily Poll: See how you stack up
Student Success Corner: How Investment Banking works: From J.P. Morgan to Modern Wall Street
Market Snapshot
📉 Banana Bits
Gold surges to record highs despite the easing of U.S.-China trade tensions.
The Supreme Court is told that Trump's tariffs are an illegal $3 trillion tax.
Kenvue urges FDA to reject request for autism warning on Tylenol.
CATL profit rises 41% as battery maker’s overseas push continues.
Trump makes a rare earths deal with Australia to fight China.
Vietnam targets 10% growth next year despite trade pressures.
Cr*pto treasury companies are the new SPACs.
Market Recap
Back in Record Highs
Investors just shrug off the U.S.-China trade tension like it's nothing.
Stocks rallied again on Monday, which pushed major indexes back to prior highs before the Oct. 10 slump, and brought them within striking distance of all-time highs. S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 1.1% while tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.4%.
Leading the rally is Apple, whose shares soared 3.9% after analysts at Loop Capital raised their rating to buy from hold and boosted its price target to $315 from $226 on expectations that Apple could set a record for iPhone shipments.
It marked its first record close since Dec. 26, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Apple also finished the day with a higher market cap than Microsoft for the first time since Sept. 25.
What's Ripe
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF) 21.5%
CLF surged 21% after the steel maker said it was exploring ways to produce rare-earth minerals from its iron ore deposits.
For the third quarter, Cleveland-Cliffs posted adjusted Ebitda of $143 million, topping analysts’ calls for $128 million, and sales of $4.7 billion, narrowly beating expectations of $4.5 billion.
Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) 5.5%
SMCI gained 5.5 % making it the second-best performer in the S&P 500 on Monday. Barron’s technical analyst Doug Busch said the stock appeared to be forming a “cup and handle” pattern.
What's Rotten
AppLovin Corporation (APP) 5.6%
APP declined -5.6% in Monday trading after the company reported earlier this month that the Securities and Exchange Commission had been investigating the tech firm's data-collection practices.
Oracle Corporation (ORCL) 4.9%
ORCL sank close to 5% Monday, extending losses last week after the enterprise software giant shared lofty targets at its Oracle AI World conference in Las Vegas.
While the company is targeting robust AI-driven growth, several Wall Street analysts raised concerns about the company's capital expenditure plans and reliance on revenue from OpenAI.
🧠 Technical Trip
Interview Q&A from BlackRock
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🦈 Deal Dispatch
M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions
Haier is said to weigh IPO of internet-of-things unit COSMOPlat.
Techcom rises in debut as Vietnam market rebounds after selloff.
Deals for startups reach a record in Japan before listing curbs.
NVIDIA-backed Cohere to offer secondary sale of employee shares.
Ripple-Tied treasury firm to raise over $1 billion to go public.
Worldpay’s global payments deal cleared by UK antitrust watchdog.
📊The Daily Poll
Trump’s rare earths deal with Australia is a |
Previous Poll:
Big bank earnings show…
Strength is back: 24.0% // Profit season: 32.0% // Temporary boost: 36.0% // Just lucky timing: 8.0%
Banana Brain Teaser
Previous
A store reported total sales of $385 million for February this year. If the total sale for the same month last year was $320 million, approximately what was the percentage increase in sales?
Answer: 20%
Today
If Jake loses 8 pounds, he will weigh twice as much as his sister. Together, they now weigh 278 pounds. What is Jake’s present weight, in pounds?
Diversification may preserve wealth, but concentration builds it.
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Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Colin & Patrick