Market Beats | Tensions Escalate in Los Angeles; Cuomo Warns Against Taxing the Rich; US Signals Chip Export Concessions as China Trade Talks Begin in London; Young US Graduates Struggle to Find Work; Harvard in Talks to Relocate Foreign Students Facing Trump Visa Ban; Barclays to Cut Over 200 Investment Bank Jobs

—— Tensions Escalate in Los Angeles; Cuomo Warns Against Taxing the Rich; US Signals Chip Export Concessions as China Trade Talks Begin in London; Young US Graduates Struggle to Find Work; Harvard in Talks to Relocate Foreign Students Facing Trump Visa Ban; Barclays to Cut Over 200 Investment Bank Jobs

1. Tensions Escalate in Los Angeles

Tensions surged in Los Angeles on the third day of anti-deportation protests as demonstrators clashed with law enforcement, while President Donald Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom blamed each other over the unrest and the use of federal forces.

Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops over the weekend — against the objections of state and city officials — has deepened the rift between local leaders and the White House. Governor Newsom said he formally requested the rescission of what he called an “unlawful” order and vowed that California would sue the administration.

“He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom posted on X. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said that while many daytime protests had remained peaceful, evening demonstrations turned increasingly violent, with vandalism and attacks on property taking over.

“This violence that I’ve seen is disgusting,” McDonnell said at a press briefing. “What we saw the first night was bad. What we’ve seen since then is getting worse and more violent.” Police declared the downtown area an “unlawful assembly” and ordered people to leave immediately.

McDonnell added that he believed the LAPD was initially capable of handling the unrest on its own, but in light of the escalating violence, “we’ve got to make a reassessment.”

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2. Cuomo Warns Against Taxing the Rich

Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary, warned that raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents would drive them to lower-tax states like Florida and Texas.

“You elect a socialist who tries to give everything away free, doubles the taxes on the wealthy, and the wealthy say, ‘That’s it I’m gone,’” the former New York governor said in a Bloomberg Radio interview Monday.

Cuomo was referring to Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, currently polling second in the crowded race. Mamdani, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, has proposed freezing rents and making city buses free by raising the state corporate tax rate and adding a 2% income tax on city residents earning over $1 million annually. The measures would require state-level approval.

“There’s no such thing as a democratic socialist. It’s just a socialist,” Cuomo said. “It’s a socialist who says dismantle the police, the police state is oppressive, everything free, free transportation, free everything, tax the rich, so there’s class warfare in there.”

With about two weeks to go until the June 24 Democratic primary, multiple polls show Cuomo leading a field of at least eight serious contenders.

Winning the mayor’s race would mark a dramatic political comeback for Cuomo, 67, a Queens native and scion of a Democratic political dynasty.

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3. US Signals Chip Export Concessions as China Trade Talks Begin in London

Trade talks between the US and China began in London on Monday, with the US indicating it may ease restrictions on certain tech exports in return for China lifting limits on rare earth shipments.

The meeting started just after 1 p.m. local time and may extend into Tuesday if needed.

Kevin Hassett, head of the White House’s National Economic Council, told CNBC from Washington that the Trump administration expects that “after the handshake” in London, “any export controls from the US will be eased and the rare earths will be released in volume” by China.

His comments mark the clearest signal yet that Washington is open to such a trade-off, although he clarified that the US would not lift restrictions on Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips.

“The very, very high-end Nvidia stuff is not what I’m talking about,” Hassett said, specifically excluding the Nvidia H2O chips used to train AI models. “I’m talking about possible export controls on other semiconductors which are also very important to them.”

US stocks swung between small gains and losses on Monday, while Chinese equities listed in Hong Kong entered a bull market as investors bet the talks could signal easing trade tensions.

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4. Young US Graduates Struggle to Find Work

Robert Trowe never imagined finding a full-time job would be this difficult. By the time the 21-year-old graduated from Arizona State University in May, he had completed a summer internship at JPMorgan Chase, built a network of alumni and mentors, and compiled a spreadsheet of 300 job applications. The numbers are bleak: only 4% led to interviews, 33% received automated rejections, and the rest never responded. “The entry-level roles are few and far between,” he says. “Everyone I know who is graduating right now is struggling.”

While each generation feels they’re entering the workforce at a tough moment—just ask the 2008 grads from the Great Recession—today’s new graduates are indeed facing especially difficult circumstances. Artificial intelligence is replacing many lower-tier roles, and widespread hiring freezes have taken hold across corporate America amid President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade and tariff policies.

Although key economic indicators appear stable—May’s overall unemployment rate remained mostly unchanged—federal data shows joblessness rose for the fourth straight month, the longest streak since 2009. Young adults are bearing the brunt of it.

The unemployment rate for 22-to-27-year-olds with college degrees rose to 5.8% earlier this spring, its highest in four years and well above the national average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Many large firms have slashed their 2024 new graduate hiring plans. It’s now harder to land a job at a major bank than it is to get into Harvard: Goldman Sachs accepted just 0.9% of its 2024 intern applicants.

According to Oxford Economics, 85% of the recent uptick in the jobless rate stems from new labor market entrants. For young workers, even short-term unemployment can carry long-term costs. A 22-year-old who experiences six months of joblessness may earn $22,000 less over the next ten years, according to the Center for American Progress.

This generation, already shaped by pandemic-era educational disruption, now faces yet another economic headwind just as they attempt to launch their careers.

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5. Harvard in Talks to Relocate Foreign Students Facing Trump Visa Ban

Harvard University has entered into discussions with top US and international institutions to temporarily accommodate its incoming foreign students who are affected by President Donald Trump’s recent visa restrictions.

Academic leaders at the University of Chicago and London Business School are among those in talks to host students who were set to enroll at Harvard this fall but may now be denied entry into the US due to the Trump administration’s ban.

Other American universities are also exploring ways to support their foreign students, including potentially relocating them to satellite campuses outside the United States.

Trump’s decision to bar Harvard from accepting international students is part of a broader campaign by his administration to crack down on what it claims is liberal bias and antisemitism on US campuses.

A federal judge issued a temporary freeze on the order last week, delaying enforcement of the ban, but universities are already working to mitigate its impact.

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6. Barclays to Cut Over 200 Investment Bank Jobs

Barclays Plc is preparing to cut more than 200 jobs in its investment banking division in the coming days, as part of CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan’s strategy to improve profitability in the business.

According to people familiar with the matter, the layoffs will affect staff in investment banking, global markets, and research, with managing directors among the senior roles impacted. The reduction represents roughly 3% of the division’s workforce.

The move is intended to free up resources for investment in higher-priority areas. In global markets, Barclays has been aiming to expand its share in European rates, equity derivatives, and securitized product trading.

On the investment banking side, the firm is focused on boosting revenue from equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, particularly in healthcare, industrials, technology, and energy transition sectors.

The cuts are not seen as a retreat from specific asset classes or product lines. Despite shareholder pressure, Barclays remains committed to its transatlantic investment banking model, which it continues to defend as a long-term strategy.

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7. Nvidia posts 69% revenue surge

Nvidia reported a 69% year-on-year jump in revenue to $44.1 billion for the quarter ending April 27, surpassing Wall Street’s forecast of $43.3 billion, even as it absorbs a major revenue hit from US export restrictions targeting China.

The chipmaker, central to the global AI infrastructure boom, expects revenue of about $45 billion for the current quarter, plus or minus 2%. That range puts its guidance slightly below the Bloomberg consensus estimate of $45.5 billion. Nvidia shares rose 5% in early Thursday trading.

The company is navigating the fallout from President Donald Trump’s renewed trade tensions with China, including export controls introduced in April that barred Nvidia from selling its AI chips specifically tailored for the Chinese market. Nvidia said those curbs led to a $4.5 billion charge last quarter and an additional $2.5 billion in missed sales. The company also expects to lose roughly $8 billion in Chinese revenue this quarter as a result.

CEO Jensen Huang said demand for Nvidia products remains “incredibly strong,” but he reiterated criticism of the US government’s export control measures on a call with analysts.

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