Afternoon Coffee: Tariffs Fuel China’s Record Trade Surplus with U.S., Analysts Question Sears’ Moves

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China shows a record trade surplus with the U.S. for September, and companies’ efforts to get their supplies before U.S. tariffs hit may be fueling the trade gap, Bloomberg reports. China’s exports have been growing all year, but the lower activity from manufacturing purchasing managers last month may indicate a narrowing of the surplus, Bloomberg said.

Could Sears Survive? Analysts Doubt It

As Sears grapples with mounting debt and possibly filing for bankruptcy within days, analysts say the department store giant of yore didn’t do enough to succeed today, Adweek reports. “Why did they squander such a famous American icon and iconic brand? That’s probably because they didn’t reinvent the business,” one analyst tells Adweek. And Reuters reported this week that Sears has started to miss payments to suppliers.

Apple Hires 300 Engineers from Supplier

In a $600 million in-house hiring deal that bolsters efforts to design its own chips, Apple will take on more than 300 engineers from one of its chip suppliers, Dialog Semiconductor PLC, based in Europe, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Fleeing Bonds, Not Stocks

And finally, an economic update: The stock market has been taking a beating and is set to post its worst week in seven months — but more investors are leaving the bond market, Market Watch reports.