Markets & Finance

Three presidential proclamations signed July 20, 2026, impose 50% Section 338 duties on roughly $20 billion in specific Canadian imports including wine, cement and electrical equipment, not a blanket tariff on most Canadian trade. Energy, potash, fish, critical minerals and goods already covered by Section 232 tariffs are excluded, and USMCA origin status provides no protection for covered products. Importers face higher landed costs and a pre-August 19 decision window, but key administrative details including whether a separate 10% Section 122 surcharge stacks with the new rate remain unresolved.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield reached 4.64% intraday on July 22, 2026, four basis points above the July 20 FRED close of 4.60%, with WTI crude rising 3.5% to $87.30 and Brent roughly 4% to $94.35 on Middle East supply disruptions as the most direct contemporaneous explanation. A Canada tariff escalation cited in some coverage did not occur on that date; Ottawa's June 3 announcement extended existing steel quota arrangements through mid-2027 without new measures. The 2s10s yield curve held a positive slope of approximately 38 basis points, and a clean decomposition of the yield move into real rates versus inflation compensation remained unavailable because the relevant FRED series were not synchronized through July 22.

General Motors posted second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $3.57, above the $3.20 analyst consensus, with revenue of $48.03 billion and adjusted EBIT up 30% to roughly $3.9 billion. Management raised full-year adjusted EBIT guidance by $500 million to a $14–$16 billion range and lifted adjusted EPS guidance to $12–$14. The results come alongside a $2.3 billion EV realignment charge that reduced net income by 31%, a $1.1 billion quarterly tariff impact, and a roughly 20% year-over-year decline in China deliveries, making the overall picture more mixed than headline beats suggest.

Reuters reported JPMorgan and unnamed U.S. banks are in advanced discussions to provide some financing under Japan's $550 billion U.S. investment program, but no agreements have been signed and Japan's economy ministry says no decisions on U.S. bank participation have been made. Of the $2.2 billion committed so far, roughly $733 million comes from Japan's state-backed JBIC, with the remainder split among three Japanese megabanks. Key details including which U.S. banks will participate, how much each would contribute, and what financing instruments would be used remain unresolved.