Seeking Alpha’s roundup of statements, announcements, and remarks that could impact markets, sectors, or individual stocks.
- President Trump said he plans to ask the Justice Department to investigate the relationships Jeffrey Epstein had with former President Bill Clinton, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, LinkedIn founder and Microsoft (MSFT) board member Reid Hoffman.
“Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures, I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his “Island.” Stay tuned!!!” Trump added.
- The Swiss government said it has reached a trade deal with the U.S.
“Switzerland and the U.S. have successfully found a solution: U.S. tariffs will be reduced to 15%. Thanks to President Trump @POTUS for the constructive engagement. The meeting @USTradeRep with Amb. J. Greer was productive,” the Swiss government said in a post on X, adding that details of the deal would be released Friday afternoon.
- U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed the deal with Switzerland in an interview with CNBC on Friday. CNBC added that the deal also calls for Swiss companies to invest $200 billion in the U.S. by the end of 2028 and that the 15% tariff on Swiss goods matches that imposed on products from the E.U.
“They’re going to send a lot of manufacturing here to the United States — pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment — so we’re really excited about that deal and what it means for American manufacturing,” Greer said on CNBC.
Swiss drugmaker Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY) has already pledged to invest $50 billion in the U.S, Greer noted.
Novartis (NVS) is also based in Switzerland.
- New York City real estate executives say they’re seeing an increase in commercial real estate leasing in the city, despite the recent election of leftist state lawmaker Zohran Mamdani as mayor.
“In our business right now, we are seeing CEO after CEO committing to the city,” said RXR Realty CEO Scott Rechler at a CNBC investment conference on Thursday. “We’re seeing a record level of leasing in office buildings. And it’s not just for next year, it’s for 2028, 2030, 2032.”
Bill Rudin, co-executive chairman of Rudin Management, agreed.
“We haven’t seen any diminishment in meetings with brokerage firms,” Rudin said. “People keep saying, ‘any impact?’ No one has put their pencils down. No one is calling the moving trucks. Companies are expanding and taking space.”