EQUITY TECHS: E-MINI S&P: (Z5) Bullish Recovery

ERM6 98.12/98.25cs vs 97.9375p, bought the cs for 0.5 in 2k.

Bullet continued. Earlier today, at a bilateral meeting, Takaichi leveraged her association with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bolster her relationship with Trump. Taikachi pledged to increase defence spending, saying Japan is “ready to contribute even more proactively to peace and stability of the region,” addressing a longstanding Trump grievance.

• Bloomberg notes, “Trump said the US and Japan were looking to boost their joint shipbuilding capacity as his Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, signed a memorandum of understanding with Japanese officials.”
• The agreement on rare earths, which follows similar deals with Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand, come as the Trump administration seeks to formalise an alternative rare earth supply chain to reduce reliance on China ahead of a key meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins on Thursday.
• Reuters notes, “While dominated by China, the U.S. and Myanmar control 12% and 8% of global rare earth extraction, according to Eurasia Group, and Malaysia and Vietnam cover another 4% and 1% of processing, respectively.”
• Earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted in a readout of a meeting with Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama that he was “glad to hear the Minister’s perspective on Japanese fiscal measures" and "expressed his eagerness to learn more as the full package is worked out so as to better understand the potential impact.”
• Katayama told reporters he had “no direct talks about direction of monetary policy,” and noted there has been “no change to US-Japan joint statement on forex,” per Reuters.

US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have signed a critical mineral framework and formalised the implementation of a USD$550 Japanese investment pledge from Tokyo to ease a Memorandum of Understanding on trade that would cap tariffs on Japanese exports at 15% - including on autos -, signed on September 4.

• According to the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the investment pledge taps private funding from major Japanese firms, including Westinghouse, GE Vernova Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, and Soft Bank, to finance investment in energy and power primarily related to Artificial Intelligence.   
• At 06:00 ET 10:00 GMT 19:00 JST, Trump will participate in a reception with Japanese business leaders, where Toyota is expected to announce a plan to manufacture cars in the US.
• The trade deal is also expected to increase Tokyo’s purchases of US LNG, reducing reliance on Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project, which makes up roughly 9% of Japanese imports.
• The US and Japan said in a joint statement, “The Agreement will help both countries to strengthen economic security, promote economic growth, and thereby continuously lead to global prosperity,” noting that relevant ministers will take further steps for a “NEW GOLDEN AGE” of the ever-growing US-Japan Alliance.
• The framework deal on rare earths and critical minerals notes that the two countries will take steps to accelerate permitting, mobilise capital to secure supply chains, and invest in mining and processing.