World Street | Trump implements tariff plans, DeepSeek's hardware cost, and more

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Commerzbank's record profit and share buyback plans grabbed headlines, while China's DeepSeek shook up the AI space with its $6 million training cost revelation. Meanwhile, the US DOJ moved to block Hewlett Packard's $14 billion Juniper deal, citing competition concerns, and President Trump slapped fresh tariffs on imports. All this and more on World Street.

Surprise Boost

Commerzbank unexpectedly unveiled its quarterly results on Friday, celebrating a “record” annual profit and rolling out a fresh share buyback plan.

The bank reported a 20 percent surge in net profit, reaching €2.68 billion ($2.78 billion) in 2024, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.47 billion cited by Reuters. It also announced plans to repurchase €400 million worth of shares and proposed raising its dividend payout to €0.65 per share, up from €0.35 the previous year. Shares of the lender closed 1.7 percent higher.

Price of Innovation

China’s DeepSeek became the center of tech discussions this week, with industry insiders and Wall Street zeroing in on a single figure: $6 million.

In its latest paper detailing its AI model, DeepSeek disclosed that training costs amounted to $5.576 million, based on Nvidia GPU rental prices. However, the company clarified that this figure only covered “official training” and excluded expenses related to prior research, architecture testing, and algorithm development.

Earlier in the week, DeepSeek’s AI Assistant topped Apple’s US App Store as the most-downloaded free app, knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT off its perch. Meanwhile, global tech stocks took a hit, with Nvidia and Broadcom collectively shedding $800 billion in market capitalization on Monday.

Regulatory Roadblock

The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s $14 billion acquisition of networking gear maker Juniper Networks, citing concerns over competition.

According to the DOJ’s complaint, the deal would reduce competition, leaving just two players—Cisco Systems and HPE—in control of more than 70 percent of the US networking equipment market. Shares of both HPE and Juniper fell roughly 2 percent following the news. The lawsuit marks the first major antitrust action since President Donald Trump took office last week.

Over a year ago, HPE announced plans to acquire Juniper in an all-cash deal aimed at bolstering its AI capabilities.

Tariff Turmoil

On January 31, US President Donald Trump declared a new round of tariffs, imposing a 25 percent duty on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent levy on goods from China, effective February 1.

When asked at the Oval Office if there was any room for negotiation, Trump dismissed the possibility, stating, “No, no. Not right now, no.”

He clarified that Canadian oil would face a 10 percent tariff, lower than the 25 percent rate applied to other goods, but warned that broader tariffs on oil and natural gas would follow in mid-February.