CNBC Daily Open: The S&P 500 notches a record — investors are unfazed by Trump’s blitz

U.S. President Donald Trump’s whirlwind blitz through the bureaucracy, economic policy and geopolitical affairs isn’t ending. As top U.S. officials meet their Russian counterparts for high-level talks, Trump suggested to reporters that Ukraine was somehow responsible for inciting Moscow’s invasion of the country.

On other fronts, however, Trump is leaving things undisturbed. His administration left intact stiff rules — put in place during former U.S. President Joe Biden’s term — overseeing corporate mergers. That could come as a let-down to Wall Street, which had been looking forward to an uptick in deals because of expectations that the Trump administration would be pro-business and less opposed to mergers and acquisitions.

But that didn’t disappoint investors much. The S&P 500 set a new closing record on Tuesday. And, further from Trump, the European Stoxx 600 also notched a fresh high.

New record for S&P 500
On Tuesday, the S&P 500 added 0.24% to close at a fresh high of 6,129.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat and the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.07%. However, Meta shares snapped their 20-day winning streak. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell around 0.3% but South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed over 1.7%. Separately, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut rates by 50 basis points to 3.75%.

Deal-making activity in China ramps up
Merger and acquisition deals in China are starting to rebound as Beijing’s stimulus measures start to bear fruit, while pressure from Donald Trump’s tariffs is also driving industry consolidation. Data from Dealogic showed a 78.5% jump in the value of M&A transactions in China in the fourth quarter of 2024, which helped full-year activity rise for first time in five years.

HSBC announces share buyback
HSBC reported Wednesday full-year earnings that missed analyst estimates compiled by LSEG. Revenue in 2024 for Europe’s largest lender came in at $65.85 billion, down from $66.1 billion the year prior. The bank’s pre-tax profit of $32.31 billion rose 6.5% year on year, but was below the LSEG estimate of $32.63 billion. HSBC also announced a share buyback of up to $2 billion.

Strict merger rules left intact
The Trump administration on Tuesday said it will keep using strict guidelines, adopted during former U.S. President Joe Biden’s term, to review proposed corporate mergers. The decision is a victory for the anticorporate wing of the Trump administration, embodied by Vice President JD Vance, but a blow to Wall Street, which had been anticipating more deals under a loosened framework for evaluating proposed mergers.

U.S. meets Russia in Saudi Arabia
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia, the first formal sit-down meeting between top U.S. and Russian diplomats since January 2022. Both sides emphasized that talks were preliminary. On the same day, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Ukraine “should never have started it,” referring to Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022.

[PRO] Divided over Europe’s outperformance of U.S.
The Stoxx 600 index rose 6.3% in January, far higher than the 2.7% gain of the S&P 500. The former’s outperformance has persisted into February, rising more than the U.S. broad-based index month to date. While some analysts are optimistic the trend can endure, others warn that “European investors may need to enjoy it while it lasts” because of one fundamental driver of markets

China’s DeepSeek has taken the world by storm. Here are the brains powering the AI sensation

Artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has rocketed into global prominence, but the team behind it is relatively unknown outside China. DeepSeek’s founder, Liang Wenfeng, has been dubbed by some in Western media as China’s Sam Altman. But unlike his Silicon Valley counterpart, Liang has maintained a low public profile.  

Liang’s team, comprising young graduates from some of the country’s leading universities, is also little known. The team consists of fewer than 140 people, according to Chinese state media, though a research paper on its latest R1 reasoning model lists about 200 contributors. Here’s an overview of the people behind the AI sensation and how the startup came into being.