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IonQ (IONQ), Rigetti (RGTI), D-Wave (QBTS) surge on report of Trump administration quantum equity talks. (00:22) Beefing over beef: Trump says ranchers don’t understand how tariffs benefited them. (01:18)Crude oil jumps after U.S. hits top two Russian oil companies with sanctions. (02:52)
This is an abridged transcript.
Quantum computing stocks are up sharply in premarket trading after reports that the Trump administration is negotiating equity stakes in several key firms.
Companies including IonQ (NYSE:IONQ), Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI), and D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) are discussing the government becoming a shareholder.
The move signals the Trump administration’s expanding interventions in what it sees as critical segments of the economy.
The Wall Street Journal reported other companies, such as Quantum Computing (NASDAQ:QUBT) and Atom Computing, are also considering similar arrangements.
In premarket activity, IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) rose 14.3%, Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) 13.8%, D-Wave Quantum (NYSE:QBTS) 13.6%, Arqit Quantum (NASDAQ:ARQQ) +11.7%, and Quantum Corp (NASDAQ:QMCO) +12.7%.
President Trump said U.S. cattle ranchers “don’t understand” how tariffs have benefited them, and insisted that they need to lower their prices.
“The Cattle Ranchers, who I love, don’t understand that the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Over the weekend, Trump suggested importing more beef from Argentina to help bring down prices in the U.S. The proposal faced pushback from cattle ranchers and some Republican lawmakers.
“This plan only creates chaos at a critical time of the year for American cattle producers, while doing nothing to lower grocery store prices,” said Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
“Argentina has a deeply unbalanced trade relationship with the U.S.,” he noted, as the country sold over $801M of beef into the U.S. market in the past five years compared to just over $7M worth of American beef sold to Argentina.
Woodall pointed to Argentina’s history of foot-and-mouth disease, “which if brought to the U.S., could decimate our domestic livestock production.”
According to the Nebraska Farm Bureau, high beef prices have been driven by factors such as multi-decade low cattle supply due to drought, and a lack of cattle coming from Mexico due to screwworm. Tariffs have raised the cost of imported beef.
Crude oil prices have extended gains pre-market after the U.S. announced sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, and their subsidiaries, marking the Trump administration’s first effort to impose direct costs on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The sanctions could bar foreign countries or companies from conducting business with the Russian companies and cut them off from much of the international financial system.
Treasury Secretary Bessent said the U.S. is prepared to take further action, while calling on Russia to agree to a ceasefire.
State-controlled Rosneft and privately held Lukoil are the two top Russian oil producers, jointly accounting for nearly half of the country’s total crude oil exports, or ~2.2 million bbl/day in this year’s H1, according to Bloomberg estimates.
Crude oil is nearly 5% at more than $61/barrel. Brent crude is up 4.8% at more than $65/barrel.
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The World Coffee Innovation Summit in London will take place. Starbucks (SBUX), Lavazza, and JDE Peet’s are some of the notable companies participating.
Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in mixed territory. Bitcoin is up 1.7% at $109,000. Gold is up 0.4% at $4,119.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.3% and the DAX is down 0.3%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) -7% – Shares slid despite delivering Q3 results and guidance that exceeded expectations.
On today’s economic calendar:
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10:00 am Existing Home Sales
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10:00 am Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will testify before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of financial regulators.