U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on March 11, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
CNBC will be hosting “CONVERGE LIVE,” an inaugural thought leadership event on March 12-13, 2025, in Singapore, where global business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and key decision-makers will discuss what it means to innovate and grow by collaborating and sharing ideas across industries.
Viewers can watch the live stream of the event and hear from speakers including Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong Gan, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai, Bridgewater Associates Founder Ray Dalio, and Salesforce CEO, chair, and co-founder Marc Benioff and others here.
The White House engaged in a heated — but brief — tariff skirmish with Canada, doubling levies on its northern neighbor’s steel and aluminum imports to 50% at one point. That was in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford saying he would impose a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S.
But cooler heads prevailed, and the trade war has been suspended temporarily. Despite the resolution, investors were unsettled by the constant ruction over tariffs and sold off stocks, dragging down S&P 500 to correction territory during the trading session.
What you need to know today
Markets’ downward slide continues
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 slid 0.76%, and was 10% below its record close at its lows during the trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.14% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.18%. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up around 0.07% as shares of Nissan Motor climbed 0.6% on news that CEO Makoto Uchida will step down from his position on April 1. China’s CSI 300 fell 0.35% amid climbing yields on the country’s 10- and 30-year government bond.
U.S. CPI projections
The U.S. consumer price index for February, out Wednesday, is forecast to show an increase of 0.3% for a broad array of goods and services. That projection holds both for the all-items measure and the core index that excludes volatile food and energy prices. On an annual basis, that would put headline inflation at 2.9% and the core reading at 3.2%, both 0.1 percentage point lower than in January.
Trading barbs
U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% on steel and aluminum imports went into effect Wednesday, prompting a response from the European Union, which said it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros‘ ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods starting in April. On Tuesday, Trump retracted plans to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50% after Canada suspended a planned 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S.
Ukraine will agree to ceasefire if Russia accepts
Ukraine agreed Tuesday to an immediate 30-day ceasefire negotiated by the U.S. if Russia accepts the plan, officials said. As part of the plan, the U.S. immediately lifted its pause on sharing intelligence and resumed security assistance with Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia more than three years ago. “Ukraine is ready to start talking and stop shooting,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
[PRO] S&P 500 closes below key level
This week’s sell-off has pushed the S&P 500 below a key technical level, raising concern that a sustained downturn could take hold. Here’s why market technicians think the move could cap further upside in 2025, which will likely be defined by choppy, sideways action after the bull run of the past two calendar years.
And finally…
Anthony Kwan | Getty Images News | Getty Images
DeepSeek AI cranks open the spigots on Chinese venture capital
DeepSeek was released in late January, just as Insilico, an artificial intelligence drug discovery company, was finalizing a $110 million series E financing round led by Hong Kong-based Value Partners, the startup’s CEO and founder Alex Zhavoronkov told CNBC in an exclusive interview.
Spurred by enthusiasm over DeepSeek, many Chinese funds wanted to participate in Insilico’s funding at the last minute — “like an avalanche” — that the firm is planning a series “E2″ raise, Zhavoronkov said. “We have never seen this level of interest before.”
“It looks like the DeepSeek moment, it created a lot of interest from global investors to invest in China,” he said Monday. “I think the funding is going to come back.”
