Finance

Who is Huohuade Lutenike? The Chinese rendering of Howard Lutnick, the billionaire nominee to lead America’s commerce department, is not well known in China. But he may end up shaping America’s trade policies. Since Donald Trump announced his pick, Chinese investors and policy-watchers have scrambled for information. More than anything they want to know if Mr Lutenike will slap Mr Trump’s proposed 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports. The urgency of such efforts has only increased since the president-elect fired an opening salvo on November 25th, announcing he would start with an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods on his first day in office—a figure with potential to grow. More

AT FIRST GLANCE, it did not look that different from other sanctions. On November 21st America’s Treasury Department imposed new restrictions on more than four dozen Russian banks, including Gazprombank, the financial arm of the giant state gas firm. The bank, the largest in Russia not already subject to American sanctions, had been excluded from previous packages in order to allow some central and eastern European countries, including Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, to continue paying for imports of Russian gas. After December 20th, when the measures take full effect, European buyers of Russian gas will be forced to find workarounds involving either third-party banks or currencies other than the dollar, which will take time. More

Small caps just had their first historic week in three years, and one exchange-traded fund expert predicts the group’s record highs will help drive investors back into the group.
“Small caps are going to become more in favor in 2025,” VettaFi’s Todd Rosenbluth said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “They started to perk up since the election and heading into the election as interest rates have been coming down.”

Rosenbluth, the firm’s head of research, expects ETF funds specializing in small caps to reap the benefits of investors looking to broaden out their market exposure.
The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, hit its first record high since November 2021 this week and just saw its best monthly performance since last December. The index is up almost 11% in November and 35% over the past 52 weeks as of Friday’s close.
Rosenbluth suggests some profit taking in the “Magnificent Seven” stocks, which include Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Tesla, will benefit small caps. He also expects investors to rotate out of money market accounts due to the effects of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate easing policy.
“We expect some more dispersion in the winners,” Rosenbluth said.
Rosenbluth cited the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF and the VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF as potential ways to play strength in small caps. The Core S&P Small-Cap ETF is up 11% in November while the VictoryShares’ fund is up almost 8%.

Disclaimer More

Consumers are “wired” to think more about the short term instead of long-term financial goals, according to a behavioral finance expert.
Americans expect to spend an average $1,014 on holiday gifts this year, according to a Gallup poll.
There are ways to check your spending during the holiday season, experts said.

Betsie Van Der Meer | Digitalvision | Getty Images

The holiday season is a time to give thanks, reflect on the past year, and spend time with family and friends. However, if you’re not careful, it can also be a time you overspend on holiday purchases.
About 83% of Americans plan to buy gifts for friends and family this holiday season, according to a NerdWallet poll.

Americans expect to spend an average of $1,014 on Christmas or other holiday gifts in 2024 — “substantially more” than the $923 reported last year, according to a Gallup poll published Oct. 25.
Roughly 10% of consumers expect to draw from their emergency fund to buy gifts, and 9% will prioritize gifts over household bills such as utilities and debt payments, according to the NerdWallet survey, published Oct 8.

Almost half of shoppers will fund this year’s spending with loans or credit cards, according to a recent survey by professional services firm EY. Meanwhile, 28% of people are still paying off credit card debt from the 2023 holiday season, NerdWallet found.
People have an innate impulse to overspend, experts said. They are “wired” to be consumers, said Brad Klontz, a psychologist, certified financial planner and behavioral finance expert.
“For 99% of our time on Earth, thinking about the long-term future hasn’t served us very well,” said Klontz, who is a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council and the CNBC Global Financial Wellness Advisory Board. “Meeting our immediate needs was what it was all about.”

More from Personal Finance:What not to buy on Black Friday or Cyber MondayHow to maximize tax breaks for charitable giving56% of Americans say parents never discussed money with them
The short-term gratification of giving gifts to loved ones can eclipse the long-term focus that’s needed to be good with money, Klontz said. That’s where many people fall short, he said.
“We can overspend because our long-term goals are much more abstract, and it actually requires us to do extra levels of cognitive processing to delay instant gratification,” he said.
Additionally, consumers may feel the social pressure to spend more than they might like because they don’t want to appear “cheap,” said Andrea Woroch, a consumer finance expert.
Many companies also promote deals — on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, for example — that can create a “buying frenzy,” she said.

How to avoid overspending during the holidays

Cavan Images | Cavan | Getty Images

There are various ways for consumers to keep their holiday tabs within a reasonable range, experts said.
Here are some of their tips.

Develop a spending plan now around how much to allocate to the holiday season, Klontz said. It’s not too late, even over Black Friday weekend. Consumers can use a gift list tracking app such as Santa’s Bag to track purchases and actual spend, Woroch said.

Think beyond gifts, Woroch said. There are many other potential seasonal expenses, including groceries to feed out-of-town guests or for holiday feasts, holiday party attire, family photos, greeting cards and postage, seasonal outings, dinners with friends, fundraising events at your kids’ school and donation drives. You may need to cut back on certain costs or spend less on gifts to accommodate these, she said.

Set gift expectations with family and friends now, Woroch said. This may mean focusing on kids only or setting up a “Secret Santa” exchange so you’re only responsible for one gift rather than many, she said. Instead of a physical gift, perhaps find an activity to do together instead. Or, set a gift budget, suggesting a lower amount this year, Woroch said.

Tap into free rewards to offset gift costs, Woroch said. For example, she recommends signing up for free retail loyalty programs to earn money back to use toward other gift purchases; shopping through cash-back portals such as CouponCabin.com or Rakuten for online purchases; and downloading a browser extension such as Fetch to earn rewards or free gift cards.

Take time to reflect on your long-term goals that “really matter to you,” Klontz said. This can help rein in the impulse to make short-term purchases. More

Lombard Odier — one of Switzerland’s oldest private banks — has been indicted by Swiss prosecutors on charges of aggravated money laundering.
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said Friday that it filed an indictment against Lombard Odier and a former employee of the bank at Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court on Tuesday.
The accused allegedly helped conceal the proceeds of a criminal organization set up by Gulnara Karimova — the daughter of Islam Karimov, the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan who died in 2016.

A pedestrian walks by the entrance to Lombard Odier in Geneva, Switzerland.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lombard Odier — one of Switzerland’s oldest private banks — was indicted by Swiss prosecutors on charges of aggravated money laundering.
In a release on Friday, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, or OAG, said it filed an indictment against Lombard Odier and a former employee of the bank at Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court on Tuesday.

The OAG said the accused helped conceal the proceeds of a criminal organization set up by Gulnara Karimova — the daughter of Islam Karimov, the authoritarian president of Uzbekistan who died of a stroke in 2016. Karimova was indicted by the attorney general in 2023 on accusations of laundering money that was a result of criminal activities in Switzerland between 2005 and 2012.
“Investigations have led the OAG to believe that part of the money laundered in Switzerland may have been transferred in bank accounts at … Lombard Odier in Geneva. The bank and one of its former relationship managers are alleged to have played a decisive role in concealing the proceeds of the criminal activities of ‘The Office,'” the OAG said in its statement.
They have been under investigation since 2016, the prosecutors added.
Lombard Odier, whose origins date back as far as 1796, denies the allegations.
“We have taken note of the decision of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland to bring charges against the Bank for insufficient controls,” the bank said in a statement on Friday.

“This step follows the opening of a formal investigation against the bank initiated and made public in 2016. For the bank, the allegations are unfounded and without merit. The bank plans to defend itself vigorously.”
The bank said the case was initiated by Lombard Odier’s “proactive reporting of suspicions to the Swiss authorities.”
CNBC has reached out to Gregoire Mangeat, who has represented Karimova throughout her legal battles with Swiss authorities. Karimova is currently serving a jail sentence in Uzbekistan. More

China will start limiting exports of critical metal tungsten this weekend, just as alternatives to Chinese suppliers of the metal are reopening.
Tungsten is an extremely hard metal used in weapons and semiconductors.
The U.S. has not commercially mined tungsten since 2015, according to official records. But this year, one of the world’s largest mines for the metal is moving close to resuming production in South Korea.

Workers transporting soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China, Oct. 31, 2010.
Stringer | Reuters

BEIJING — China will start limiting exports of critical metal tungsten this weekend, just as alternatives to Chinese suppliers of the metal are reopening.
It’s a reversal of past decades, during which, according to analysts, Chinese businesses poured cheap tungsten into the global market to put competitors out of business — eventually controlling 80% of the supply chain, according to Argus. Tungsten is an extremely hard metal used in weapons and semiconductors.

As part of new rules limiting exports of “dual use” goods — which can be used for military or civilian purposes — China’s Ministry of Commerce earlier this month released a list indicating that businesses wanting to export a range of tungsten and critical mineral products would need to apply for licenses. The latest measures will take effect Dec. 1.
The move comes as escalating U.S.-China tensions boost demand for non-China tungsten. The U.S. Defense Department has banned its contractors from buying China-mined tungsten starting Jan. 1, 2027.
“It’s a bit late for the Chinese on tungsten,” said Christopher Ecclestone, principal and mining strategist at Hallgarten & Company.
“Everybody needs more tungsten. That’s the message out there right now,” he said. “The thing that’ll prompt more tungsten is not a Chinese ban. It’s a Chinese ban causing [it to become more] profitable to mine tungsten.”

Ecclestone pointed out that tungsten prices have not reacted much to China’s announcement. For mining the metal to be significantly profitable, he estimates prices would need to trade $50 higher than their current price of around $335 — measured by the industry in per metric ton units of ammonium para tungstate, in which one metric ton unit is 10 kilograms.

Higher prices in the U.S. alone could encourage more tungsten production.
While China restricts tungsten exports, the U.S. increased tariffs on Chinese tungsten by 25% in September. The majority of public comments on the U.S. tungsten tariffs supported the duties, noting benefits for domestic manufacturing. Some even requested the duties rise to 50%.
It may take years to open a mine, but more tariffs, expected under a Trump administration, could make it “more commercially viable” for some U.S. mining projects to reopen, said Cullen S. Hendrix, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

‘Friendshoring’ tungsten

The U.S. has not commercially mined tungsten since 2015, according to official records. But this year, one of the world’s largest mines for the metal is moving close to resuming production in South Korea.
Canada-based Almonty Industries said last week it came one step closer to fully reopening the Sangdong mine and processing plant with the installation of grinding equipment. The mine, more than 10 hours east of Seoul by bus, closed in 1994.
Almonty aims to restore Sangdong to around 50% of its potential output by summer 2025, CEO Lewis Black told CNBC last month, after a ceremony that highlighted cooperation with the local government.
He noted that 90% of South Korea’s tungsten comes from China, and that Chinese companies might invest in other businesses to maintain their market share indirectly.
Jeong Kwang-yeol, the vice governor for economic affairs in Gangwon where Sangdong is located, said the region is willing to offer foreign investors incentives as he hopes the mine can become an anchor for other industrial companies to expand in the region. He cited estimates that the first phase of the mine would create 250 jobs and 1,500 indirect positions.
Almonty currently operates a tungsten mine in Portugal. In 2015, the company completed an acquisition that gave it the mining rights to Sangdong, and in 2021 it obtained $75.1 million for project financing from German state bank KfW IPEX-Bank. Almonty said overall investment in Sangdong so far has exceeded $130 million.
“In the medium-term, the U.S. will need to rely on friendshoring” for tungsten, said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She noted that Almonty has committed 45% of the South Korea Sangdong mine to the U.S. through a long-term supply contract.
Several members of the U.S. Geological Survey, a government agency which analyzes the availability of natural resources, visited Sangdong earlier this year to assess its capacity. China was the largest source of U.S. tungsten imports in June at 45%, according to the agency.
Demand for tungsten in and outside China is expected to rise, keeping tungsten prices elevated in the near term, said Emre Uzun, ferro-alloys and steel analyst at Fastmarkets. But starting late next year, he expects increased non-China supply to help stabilize raw tungsten prices.
“Outside China, demand will also rise, but supply is expected to grow when operations expand and projects progress,” he said, pointing to the Sangdong mine and tungsten projects in Kazakhstan, Australia and Spain.

U.S. tungsten deposits

Despite the lack of tungsten production in the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey has identified around 100 sites in 12 U.S. states with significant amounts of the metal: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Washington.
In Idaho, roughly 4 hours away from Boise, a small Canadian company called Demesne Resources plans in coming days to close an eight-year deal worth $5.8 million to acquire the IMA tungsten mine, CEO Murray Nye said on Tuesday. He expects the mine could begin production by spring.
Nye said decades of historical records indicate the mine has significant quantities of tungsten, silver and molybdenum, a metal often used to strengthen others. That, he said, has the makings of what he expects to be a “nice, profitable mine.” More

At this time of year, as they await their Christmas bonuses, people on Wall Street ponder their worth. Two questions can sharpen the mind of even the most senior employee. Imagine first accepting a position in Donald Trump’s new administration. How great a financial loss would your employer suffer? Before Mr Trump picked Scott Bessent as his treasury secretary, two of America’s biggest financial institutions weighed that question. Analysts quizzed Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase, about whether he would leave the bank for public office. Shareholders of Apollo worried about a future without Marc Rowan, who has transformed the investment firm in recent years. More

Luxury homes high on the Peak, a verdant mountain towering over Hong Kong, have long been above the cares and concerns of the rest of the city: residents look down from sprawling mansions onto the dense knot of tower blocks in which most people live. But recent property woes have brought even the loftiest areas down to Earth. The family of one indebted property investor sold eight swanky Peak properties between July and October for around half the price they might have fetched a couple of years ago. More