US, Denmark and Greenland Reach Security Pact on Sensitive Investments
President Trump announced that the United States, Denmark and Greenland have reached a security agreement barring US adversaries from making sensitive investments in Greenland without express written approval, a move that pulls the global rare earth supply race northward. According to reporting by CNBC, the broader provisions would prohibit sensitive investments by non-allied nations in Greenland's critical minerals and mining sectors, and the governments of Denmark and Greenland said they expect to sign the agreement this week during the UN General Assembly, though it still requires ratification by the Danish and Greenlandic parliaments. The global rare earth elements market was estimated at $3.95 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $6.28 billion by 2030, an 8.6% compound annual growth rate from 2025 to 2030, according to Grand View Research, while Mordor Intelligence sizes the market at 208.02 kilotons in 2026 and expects 273.30 kilotons by 2031, a 5.61% compound annual growth rate. US-listed companies with Greenland exposure rallied sharply on Monday, with the largest percentage moves concentrated in the smallest names, though the full legal text has not been released and nothing announced so far grants any company a permit, an offtake or funding. Greenland Mines Ltd. announced it has applied to the Government of Greenland for a new license covering approximately 262 km² east of its existing Sarfartoq license, MEL 2020-32, which if granted would grow its Sarfartoq footprint from about 192 km² to about 454 km², and the company's ST1 deposit carries an S-K 1300 Mineral Resource Estimate of 6.9 million tons Indicated at 1.60% TREO and 5.3 million tons Inferred at 0.96% TREO, with a high-case pre-tax NPV of approximately $2.05 billion.
Trump Dismisses AI Guardrails as Sons Invest in AI-Linked Ventures
President Trump has rejected calls to impose federal restrictions on artificial intelligence, calling concerns about the technology a "SICK conspiracy" in a Sept. 14 Truth Social post and arguing that the only guardrail AI needs is a strong and smart president. The comments followed an essay by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urging companies to slow the pace of development, which was endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Meanwhile, the Trump family is building business interests in the industry: Donald Trump Jr. is a partner at 1789 Capital, which closed a $1.2 billion deal focused on real estate ventures including data centers, and both he and Eric have joined Dominari Holdings and helped launch American Data Centers. The brothers also have ties to defence technology, including the rare-earth magnet startup Vulcan Elements, in which 1789 Capital took a stake three months after the company received a $620 million Pentagon loan, and Eric is an investor in Space-Eyes, which uses AI to process satellite data. A Washington Post analysis in July found 15 companies tied to the brothers' investment funds have generated at least $3.2 billion in federal business since they joined, with SpaceX and the AI-powered defence firm Anduril accounting for 97% of that figure. Trump's own investment accounts have made nearly 30,000 securities transactions since he returned to the White House, including purchases of Dell Technologies, Micron Technology and GE Vernova, and Trump Media & Technology Group has merged with a nuclear-fusion venture and announced it will license Truth Social posts to AI labs.
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Nasdaq 100 Hits Record as Markets Eye Trump-Xi Summit
The Nasdaq 100 posted its best session since early August on Monday, surging 2.8% to a record close as investors concluded that AI-driven earnings growth has made the Federal Reserve's latest rate hike a secondary concern. Meta added approximately 12% on the same session, boosted by the breakout success of its AI agent app Muse, while U.S. crude oil tumbled 4.5% and Brent fell 3.4%, pulling the 10-year Treasury yield down more than four basis points to 4.95%. The Fed raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points last week to a target range of 3.75%-4.00%, its first rate increase since 2023, with projections showing the policy rate peaking at 4.00%-4.25% by year-end before holding steady through 2027, well below the 5.5% ceiling hit in the prior tightening cycle. The week's central event is the Trump-Xi summit scheduled for Thursday at the White House, where Boeing orders, rare earths, and AI regulation are on the agenda, with markets focused above all on whether the U.S.-China tariff truce, currently set to expire on November 10, will be extended into 2027. Yardeni Research analysts called it arguably the most consequential encounter of either man's presidency, warning that failure to extend the truce by November 10 risks reigniting triple-digit tariff escalation that would disproportionately hit semiconductor supply chains, while noting that Chinese exports surged 25% year over year in August after rising 23.9% in July and Chinese shipments to the United States are up 6.1% so far this year despite U.S. tariffs.
