NIPPON STEEL CORP.

Kanadevia and Nippon Steel Engineering, a subsidiary of Nippon Steel, announced on the 29th that they are ending talks on a business integration that the two companies had been pursuing. The two companies explained that they had reached the view that it would be difficult to find agreement on the conditions for the integration, and the merger has fallen through. Kanadevia is the former Hitachi Zosen, and Nippon Steel Engineering is headquartered in Tokyo.

A Yahoo Finance analysis has found that 14 of the 17 public companies that accepted government involvement ended this past week with share prices lower than the day after their deals with the Trump administration were announced. The pattern has been a significant bump around the formal announcement, high volatility afterward, and then gains given back almost as quickly as they came, with USA Rare Earth jumping over 80% in five trading days around its January deal announcement before giving up all those gains and more, ending Monday at $15.71 per share, far below post-deal highs above $30. Returns for 11 of the 17 companies, measured against 10 trading days before the formal announcement, are also lower now, and the negative returns are even more pronounced given that two of the three gainers are Intel and Nippon Steel, which gave the government a golden share with outsized voting rights but not an equity stake, while the third is MP Materials, which secured a deal in July 2025. The administration has taken stakes in more than 30 companies, recently adding its 32nd, a privately held oil driller called North American Blue Energy Partners that obtained 100-year leases on land in Venezuela holding an estimated 65 billion barrels of oil, and the portfolio now spans quantum computing, semiconductors, oil drilling, steel, nuclear energy, and rare earth mineral companies. Cato Institute policy analyst Tad DeHaven, who has studied the government stakes, said it certainly looks like a sugar high, adding that there looks to be a short-term benefit but that in the long term it comes down to fundamentals. The government's stake in Intel has jumped from an estimated $8.9 billion when the deal was struck to more than $50 billion today, with Intel stock closing Monday at $97.19, down over 5% on the day but still more than quadruple its price in August 2025 just before the deal was announced.

The Trump administration has invested roughly $26.7 billion across 30 equity or quasi-equity deals, yet no consolidated public ledger of the holdings exists. The stakes are scattered across at least four agencies—Commerce, Defense, the Development Finance Corporation, and Energy—with only the Development Finance Corporation having clear statutory authority to own equity. The largest holding is a 9.9% stake in Intel, now worth $42 billion, while other investments include $400 million in rare-earth miner MP Materials and a golden share in U.S. Steel. The most complete public accounting is maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations, whose senior fellow Jonathan Hillman said the announced deals are only the tip of the iceberg. Federal budget rules treat equity purchases as outlays with little mechanism for recognizing returns, meaning the Intel position's rise from $8.9 billion to $42 billion appears in no budget document.

Three high-dividend stocks with September record dates were highlighted: Oji Holdings, UBE, and Nippon Steel. Oji Holdings is one of Japan's largest paper manufacturers, with solid demand for cardboard boxes driven by e-commerce growth, drawing attention as a high-dividend stock. UBE is a comprehensive materials manufacturer centered on chemicals, and is proactive in shareholder returns. Nippon Steel is Japan's largest steelmaker, showing a stance of strengthening shareholder returns in line with profit growth. All are companies that support Japan's manufacturing sector, and are said to be suitable for those who want to enjoy investing while keeping an eye on global economic trends.

On July 8, multiple research firms maintained their top investment ratings. Nomura Securities kept its Buy rating on PERSOL Holdings and Nippon Steel, while lowering their target prices from 430 yen to 380 yen and from 740 yen to 720 yen, respectively. Goldman Sachs Securities maintained its Buy rating on Furukawa Electric, Fujikura, and SWCC, cutting their target prices from 7,600 yen to 7,200 yen, from 7,600 yen to 7,500 yen, and from 17,500 yen to 16,200 yen, respectively. Tokai Tokyo Research Center kept its Bullish rating on Kyokuto Kaihatsu Kogyo, Mitsui & Co., and GENDA, reducing their target prices from 4,200 yen to 3,250 yen, from 7,800 yen to 7,000 yen, and from 930 yen to 900 yen, respectively.