During the first half of 2026, it seemed President Trump’s principal enemy was China and every second day he was raising tariffs on one thing or another. By the end of 2026, the relationship had changed.

In an article by Li Yuan of the New York Times News Service, the world’s tallest bridge opened in China’s Guizhou province and the pr campaign was the remarkable story of China’s path to modernization.

China has been buoyed in 2026 by a surge of confidence, convinced that its governance model is ascendant and its rise inevitable. There are serious concerns such as a slowing economy, a deepening housing crisis and falling birth rates.

The US has started to frame China more of a business competitor than as a rival for military, technological power. This is a shift from the previous.

Part of the shift was seen when the President reversed Washington policy to allow Nvidia to sell advanced semi-conductors to China.

Mr. Yuan writes he has interviewed a dozen Chinese tech executives and they fell more optimistic than they have in the past 4 years.

Market sentiment has shifted, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng stock index is up 25% this year.

China has poured billions into infrastructure spending and some of it is the best on the planet, (if you have not seen it, there are many You Tube videos to do your homework on) which shows the abilities of the country. America has to follow suit, will it?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, on the market there are battles everyday but what stands out is confidence. Who believes they can be better and why? If you buy a dividend paying stock, there are many reasons why the company can still make profits to pay dividends and you need to ensure the reasons are valid and management believes or has confidence it can do it again.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you listen to President Trump he denies there is climate change and but the reality is there is one industry that whether you believe in climate change or not, will charge you more – the insurance companies. Everyone needs insurance of one sort or another, sometimes it is mandated such as if you own an automobile, you need insurance to get your license to drive it. If you have a mortgage you need insurance to protect the bank. There are many other examples of insurance such as pet insurance, health insurance, but you know that very few insurance companies lose money. The insurance go into the reinsurance market to make their risk even smaller.

In an article by Pritam Biswas of Reuters, the largest reinsurance company in the world Swiss Re released a report that annual global insured losses from natural catastrophes are expect to hit $107 billion. The US stood as the most affected market in 2025, accounting for 83% of the global insured losses.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes topped $100 billion for the 6th straight year. The insurance companies has focused on tighter underwriting, higher premiums and examining risk models.

Jerome Jean Jaegeli, Swiss Re’s group chief economist, note reinsurers and the broader insurance sector has a dual role: acting as a financial shock absorber and supporting the development of resilient, risk-informed public policy and private investment that reduce future losses.

The good news, the first half of 2025 produced $80 billion in losses and the second half of $25 billion was less than the $150 billion was which projected to happen.

Rising climate risks are prompting insurers to pull back from high-risk areas across the US widening coverage gaps and increasing financial pressure on vulnerable communities.

In some areas, limited government insurance is the only product available, as private insurance premiums are too high for the average person.

2025 was a low from hurricane losses as few hurricanes made landfall on the US coast.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when someone talks about a subject, all you need to do is verify if the insurance with the subject is going up or down. The insurance companies have the best modelers in the industry and they do not like to pay out too much in compensation, if they do higher premiums for everyone is the result, whether you are high or low risk. Insurers pay a role in the economy, but lowering costs is rarely one of them.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Last year, President Trump announced a change in the supply system by imposing tariffs and then announced his desire to 90 deals in 90 days. In the past trade deals tended to take years because they are complicated, but the President wanted deals.

The first deal was with UK and it was agreed in May and signed on September 18, 2025.

In an article by Eshe Nelson and Ana Swanson of the New York Times News Service, the critics warned the terms were loose and the commitments vague. Now the risks of that ambiguity are becoming apparent.

The US informed the British government that it would pause fulfilling a technology-related agreement between the 2 countries, which included more collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI) and nuclear energy. The move came because American officials felt that the UK was not making sufficient progress in lowering trade barriers as promised in the May agreement.

Part of the agreement was the Tech Prosperity Deal, which extended research collaborations and encouraged deeper commercial partnerships. America’s big tech companies announced more than $40 billion in investments in Britain for AI data centers and other technologies.

But the language of the agreement said it only becomes operative alongside substantive progress being made to formalize and implement the May trade agreement.

The Trump administration says the UK has made insufficient efforts. The White House announced the agreement, but has kept negotiations with countries open for months after the President has said they were done.

The 90 deals in 90 days has amounted to 15 deals which are not yet completed. There is an Supreme Court challenge coming up in January which could invalidate many of the President’s tariffs because of how they implemented (by emergency power signed by the President) rather than agreement by the House and Senate. In addition, President Trump has granted exemptions on some goods.

Linking to dividend paying companies, the companies tend to thrive in strong stable governments where the rules and regulations change slowly, but they can adapt if needed. For the tariff policy, many have adapted by controlling costs including hiring less people and raising prices. At some point there is a limit of how much costs can be cut, making greater margins is the key to success. Everyone will be watching the Supreme Court’s questions and answers as well as the rational of what the government lawyers say. Stability is good for business.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

After the US, the next biggest vehicle market is China and there is a reason why it is the second largest economy in the world. Similar to the US, which car you drive is driven by a combination of status, reliability, prices and a host of other reasons. There is a reason why the luxury brands of vehicles are large advertisers besides they work and many people know the brand names.

In an article Chan Ho-him of the Associated Press, Chinese demand for foreign luxury cars is waning as customers opt for more affordable Chinese brand models, often sold at big discounts, catering to their taste for fancy electronics and comfort.

This is bad news for European carmakers such as Porsche, Auston Maker, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW that have long dominated the upper reaches of the world’s largest auto market.

Slowing economic growth is one key driver behind weaker demand for premium cars. said Claire Yuan, director of corporate ratings for China autos at S&P Global Ratings, referring to a segment that typically counts car brands such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

The market share of premium car sales in China, usually priced above 300,000 yuan, more than doubled between 2017 and 2023 to about 15% of total sales, S&P said.

The share of premium cars sales fell to 14% in 2024 and 13% in the first 9 months of 2025, S&P said.

Chinese products are more competitive and more affordable even in the premium segment. The Chinese brands’ share of passenger car sales climbed to almost 70% in the first 11 months of this year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. German brands held a 12% share, Japanese brands around 10% and US brands about 6%.

BYD already has overtaken VW as the biggest car seller in China in recent years. BYD had cut prices of its electric and plug-in models by up to 34%, putting pressure on major rivals such as Geely and Leapmotor.

Mercedes-Benz’s sales by units in China fell 27%; BMW’s dropped 11.2%

China’s monthly auto production in November surpassed a record of 3.5 million units for the first time, the CAAM reported Thursday, but domestic auto sales dropped 4% year-on-year under fading demand as some trade-in subsides were halted in some regions.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the auto sector plays a large role in the economic development of every country which manufactures vehicles. In every sector there are market segments, and most people know about the high end even though they tend to own the middle segments which has elements of the high end. If the high end is suffering, then the companies are making less profit because there is a high markup on high end products. Those at the high end of the market have the most choice and generally must project a certain image of how they are doing or not doing so they pay extra. Sometimes the mid-range has most of the features of the high range but less status. We all compare ourselves to something and that reflects our investments. This is why it is more difficult to be a value investor, buy when others are selling, sell when others are buying.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

When young people learn about economics, one of the first things they learn is about supply and demand. It is the most basic method to understand how prices are determined. The process works best on commodity prices because for materials that are processed, there are often monopolies and oligopolies involved, which distorts the supply demand equation.

In an article by Polina Devitt and Pratima Desai of Reuters, copper prices are closing on the $12,000 a ton mark. The demand is from data centers that power artificial intelligence and tight supplies collide with shortages outside of the US.

Copper wiring is valued for its exceptional electrical conductivity and the demand from data centers, electric vehicles and infrastructure need copper.

Copper prices are up 35% so far this year, the largest gain since 2009.

A recent Reuters survey of analyst’s forecasts shows the copper market will see a deficit of 124,000 tons this year and 150,000 tons.

Investment bank Macquarie expects global copper demand at 27 million tons this year, up 2.7% from 2024. Demand from China is expected to rise 3.7%, outside of China demand is expected to 3% next year.

Supply disruptions this year including an accident at Freeport McMoRan’s giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia in September, while other miners such as Glencoe have cut production guidance for 2026, reinforcing expectations of tight supplies.

The overall amount of copper stored in exchange warehouses is up 54% so far this year at 661,021 tons.

Traders shipped copper to the US since March due to higher prices on Comex ahead of US President Trump’s planned import tariffs.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if you own commodity stocks supply and demand is something you need to examine and ensure you pay attention to both supply and demand issues. If the company uses commodities, the issue is can the companies pass on the increased costs?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

If you think about Disney, after you remember the characters and some of the stories, you might think about how much control of the characters Disney has and does maintain its control. Disney has some of the best copyright lawyers and have very active files. But times are a changing.

In an article by Brooks Barnes and Cade Metz of the New York Times News Service, Disney is buying a $1 billion stake in OpenAI and rings its characters to Sora, the AI’s short-form video platform.

The 3-year deal will allow a curated selection of videos made with Sora to stream on Disney+. Disney said it would work with OpenAI to build new products, tools and experiences as part of the agreement and integrate ChatGPT into its workflow.

Disney is the first major Hollywood company to cross this particular Rubicon. Disney, Universal Corp, Warner Bros Discovery and the like have sent the past couple of years trying to sort through major concerns about how generative AI software is build, how copyright holders are compensated and how Hollywood unions may react.

Disney President Bob Iger said let us be mindful of the fact that these are 30-second videos.

Sora was introduced in February 2024, Sora is a technology that lets people generate photorealistic videos simply by typing a sentence into a box on a computer screen. In the fall of 2025, released for social media. More than 1 million downloaded it within 5 days.

One of many things that Sora can do is Sora users could make videos of themselves in a lightsaber battle with Luke Skywalker or a happy birthday video using Buzz Lightyear.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the largest theme park of Disney is Walt Disney World Resort in Florida is situated that way because the founder of Disney, Walt Disney did not have control of Disneyland in California and wanted to control the entire guest experience at the theme park. The history of Disney is ensuring the broad appeal of Disney characters and behind the scenes the Disney Corp controlling what the public sees about their characters. Technology changes operations and companies have to change in order to stay in business. It is hard to change, but it is necessary and once they do change people sees the gravity of the changes. Will the company continue to make profits with the change, it makes investing interesting.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

A short time ago, prices were set to change Wednesday’s evenings, in time for the flyers which were delivered on Friday newspapers for the bulk of shopping was done on Saturday. The retailers had people to change the signs of the products and for the most part they were fixed until the process happened again the following week. Then came electronic pricing and now days prices can change any day.

In an article by Ben Casselman of the New York Times News Service, the changing of the prices is happening on a constant basis.

The notion of a single price offered to all customers for a predictable period, is breaking down in the digital age. Companies are using algorithms to adjust prices quickly in response to competitor’s offers and consumer behavior. Dynamic pricing strategies in which companies raise prices during periods of intense demand, have spread beyond sectors where they have become familiar, such as air travel and ride-hailing services, to other parts of the economy including restaurants and retailers.

Alberto Cavallo, a Harvard University economist said high inflation after the pandemic accelerated the trend by encouraging companies to adjust prices more quickly.

In a call with investors last year, Fidji Simo, Instacart’s CEO, said the technology from Eversight, a software company which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help grocery stores and packaged-goods manufacturers set prices. Mr. Simo said the technology helps retailers dynamically optimize their pricing both on-line and in-store to really figure out which categories of products a consumer is price sensitive on versus less price sensitive on and really adjust their prices based on that information.

At the present time, the information is not personal but based on aggregate amounts of information, but in the future who knows? will it cost you more?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, technology brings change and change means different expectations as a consumer and profit maximizer. For the consumer it can mean every retailer is more competitive for your dollar or you will be charged prices to reflect your value as a consumer. To the profit maximizer, it means ensuring the consumer perceives value while at the same time as fleecing them as much as possible (hopefully there is a middle ground) to be able to make a profit and pay dividends.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

In the complicated world of finance is the free flow of money, until countries object to what another country is doing. Often this is going a particular line in the sand and the ability to sanction or stop money from being moved around.

In an article by Eric Reguly of the Globe and Mail, the EU is looking at Ukraine and trying to figure how to pay for the operations of Ukraine. In early spring, at the present time, the money in the bank will run out to keep Ukraine’s budget intact and equip its armed forces.

What should the EU do? grants from countries along with euro bond offerings have been tried but the money is large. Went Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU imposed sanctions and froze Russian assets in the EU. The amount of assets is north of E$220 billion.

The problem is Belgium and Euroclear, the Brussels based bank that is the world’s biggest depository of securities, including E$ 184 billion of sovereign Russian assets are against the plan. Euroclear is against because freezing assets is okay but taking them is not unless they are ill-gotten or i.e. drug money laundering. Most of the Russian assets came from selling oil and gas to Europe. Euroclear wonders when the war ends, Russia will want its assets back, they will sue or Euroclear wants liability protections. Belgium fears Russia might nationalize European-owned businesses in Russia

The US has offered a peace plan, and the White House has floated the idea of using some of the frozen assets to help fund US-led postwar reconstruction efforts, with the US claiming half the profits. President Trump does not support using frozen Russian assets to back a Ukraine bailout.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, many issues boil down to who is paying and who gets to benefit from the actions. Fortunately, most of the time the larger company with ability to wait until they get the right deal, wins most of the time. The odds are reasonable the profit-making companies will get a better deal, because they have resources needed to have both patience and file lawsuits to win in courts. There are exceptions, but most of the time, delays help the profitable companies stay profitable.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.