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President Donald Trump has widened tariff relief for Brazilian food imports, reversing part of the steep trade penalties he imposed earlier this year and aiming to ease pressure on U.S. consumers frustrated by high grocery bills.

An executive order signed Thursday exempts dozens of staple food items from a 40% tariff that had applied to Brazilian goods since the spring. Trump had already rolled back a separate 10% duty last week, but this latest move retroactively eliminates the higher levy from November 13, expanding access to cheaper imports of coffee, orange juice and beef, all categories where prices have hit records due to ongoing shortages.

The reversal marks a diplomatic win for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose government has pushed for months to unwind Trump’s tariffs. Those duties, raised to 50% in some cases, were originally designed to punish Brazil over the prosecution of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally, for alleged coup-related offences.

High-level discussions between Washington and Brasília resumed after Trump and Lula briefly crossed paths in New York in September, followed by a longer meeting in Malaysia last month. Lula has repeatedly noted that Brazil typically runs a trade deficit with the U.S., arguing that the punitive tariffs were disproportionate. Trump’s latest concessions bring both sides closer to what Lula has called a “definitive solution.”

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Tariff relief could ease U.S. food inflation at the margin while boosting Brazilian agricultural exports, supporting BRL sentiment and improving near-term trade dynamics between Washington and Brasília.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

• September US non-farm payrolls +119K vs +50K expected
• US Initial jobless claims 220K vs 230K estimate
• November Philly Fed business index -1.7 vs +2.0 expected
• Canada October produce price index +1.5% vs +0.3% expected
• Eurozone November flash consumer confidence -14.2 vs -14.0 expected
• Fed’s Goolsbee: Inflation seems to have stalled
• Fed’s Hammack: Cutting rates risks prolonging high inflation
• Fed’s Cook: Not all market volatility is problematic
• Zelenskyy: Agreed to work on the US draft plan to end the war
• China’s Wang: Raised concerns on tariffs, export control and investment restrictions
• What Walmart earnings tell us about the state of the US consumer

Markets:

• S&P 500 down 1.55%
• Nasdaq Comp down 2.2%
• WTI crude oil down 17-cents to $59.14
• Gold down $5 to $4075
• US 10-year yields down 3 bps to 4.10%
• GBP leads, AUD lags

This stock market couldn’t rally on a blockbuster AI model and great Nvidia earnings.

If the bulls were to draw up a best-case scenario at the start of the week it would certainly include:

1. Great earnings from Nvidia
2. Gemini 3 being the blockbuster model that Google’s hype machine was hinting at

Both delivered and Google tossed in a new image model today too. It all has the AI space buzzing once again.

If addition, you toss in higher US unemployment (which leaves the door open to further rate cuts) and upbeat comments on consumer spending ahead of the holidays from Walmart.

If anything, I’m struggling to find any bearish developments and we remain in the strongest seasonal period of the year.

Yet we’ve just had a brutal day in equity markets.The Nasdaq went from +2% to -2.2% while Nvidia turned a 6% gain into a 3% loss. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touched the lowest since Sept 10.

If there’s any consolation it’s that the pain seems to be contained to equities as Treasury yields have just stepped down 4-5 bps points, gold/oil are flat and the FX market is range bound. Perhaps one spot to watch is AUD/USD as it’s inching towards the July/August lows.

That hints that the problems are more about AI and stock market valuations than the real economy. The risk is that for a big part of the economy, the stock market is the economy as it holds up high end spending.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

Australian S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Flash (November 2025) 51.6, a nice jump back into expansion

• prior 49.7

Services 52.7

• prior 52.5

Composite 52.6

• prior 52.1

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Little impact on the AUD. The currency fell alongside the broad risk sell off on Thursday, US time.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

New Zealand Imports in October, 8.04bn NZD

• prior 7.17bn

Exports 6.5bn

• prior 5.7bn

Trade Balance is a deficit of -1542mn for the month

• prior -1335mn

The trade balance YTD is a deficit of 2.28bn NZD

• prior -2.39bn

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The kiwi $ is barely moved on the data, it was sold off alongside other ‘risk’ on Thursday, US time.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

U.S. banks have abandoned plans for a large, multi-year $20 billion bailout package for Argentina, according to the Wall Street Journal. The proposal, which had been under discussion as part of wider financial support for President Javier Milei’s stabilisation agenda, has been deemed unworkable given Argentina’s deteriorating fiscal position and limited creditor appetite.

Instead, bankers are now exploring a far smaller, short-term financing facility aimed solely at helping Buenos Aires meet a looming debt obligation of about $4 billion due in January. The stop-gap measure would buy Argentina time but falls well short of the broader external support officials had hoped to secure. The shift underscores rising concern among lenders about Argentina’s financing risks and the government’s ability to execute its reform programme.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

Bloomberg with the headline, a comment from a Japanese ‘government panelist’ saying it may intervene before USD/JPY reaaches 160.

I’m giving him a C, mainly for making an effort.

USD/JPY is around 157.50, so there’s another two and a half big figures before 160. I’m sure that’s not what this ‘panelist’ thought traders would be thinking.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

Inflation data from Japan for October 2025 is due today. If its anything like the October Tokyo area CPI date we got three weeks ago

• Recap – Tokyo inflation quickens to 2.8%, fuelling bets on BoJ rate hike

it’ll further inflame calls for a December rate hike from the Bank of Japan:

• BOJ likely to hike in December as yen slide boosts inflation risk, Reuters poll shows

The weak yen is contributing to higher inflation, but weak energy prices is a balm, for now:

• Yen could hit 160, but rising chance of intervention, economist warns

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

The USDCAD has run to the upside extending above a swing level near 1.4079, but then found willing sellers against another swing level at 1.4105.

IN the video above, I take a look at the USDCAD from a technical perspective and outline what would give traders some cause for pause after the recent run higher this week.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.

Ukraine Pres. Zelenskyy:

• Agreed to work on the US draft plan to end the war
• Ready to work with the US and Europe for peace.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.

Google is on a roll.

They releases Gemini 3 this week to impressive reviews. They have been hinting at a follow up to the impressive Nano Banana 1 image generation and editing tool for a couple weeks, including the image above from a lead at their AI Studio. Now it’s out.

I’ll give it a try but the way Google is going, I expect it to be impressive.

“It’s incredible at infographics. It can make slide decks. It can take
up to 14 different images, or five different characters, and sort of
keep that character consistency,” Josh Woodward, vice president of Google Labs and Gemini, told CNBC.

Early indications are that it can produce 4K images and is impressive in adding text to dynamic images. It’s built on Gemini 3.

It appears to have already been rolled out, as I have it on Gemini Pro. Here is how it sees the Fed Chairman.

Alphabet shares are up 3.7% today after touching a record high (then fading) yesterday.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

• Prior was -14.2

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.

• Prior was 4.06m
• Sales +1.2% vs +1.3% prior
• Inventory at 4.4 months
• Median home prices +2.1% vs Oct 2024

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.