Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump and his administration with this weekly recap compiled by The Fly:
1. CONTINUED PRESSURE ON POWELL: On Thursday, President Trump kept up his pressure on the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell, tweeting that, "Germany sells 30 year bonds offering negative yields. Germany competes with the USA. Our Federal Reserve does not allow us to do what we must do. They put us at a disadvantage against our competition. Strong Dollar, No Inflation! They move like quicksand. Fight or go home!" Then on Friday morning, ahead of Powell's speech at the "Challenges for Monetary Policy" symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Trump added via Twitter that, "Now the Fed can show their stuff!"
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Powell, in the speech, stated in part that, "The three weeks since our July FOMC meeting have been eventful, beginning with the announcement of new tariffs on imports from China. We have seen further evidence of a global slowdown, notably in Germany and China. Geopolitical events have been much in the news, including the growing possibility of a hard Brexit, rising tensions in Hong Kong, and the dissolution of the Italian government. Financial markets have reacted strongly to this complex, turbulent picture. Equity markets have been volatile. Long-term bond rates around the world have moved down sharply to near post-crisis lows. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy has continued to perform well overall, driven by consumer spending. Job creation has slowed from last year's pace but is still above overall labor force growth. Inflation seems to be moving up closer to 2%. Based on our assessment of the implications of these developments, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near its symmetric 2% objective."
Commenting on Powell's speech, President Trump said in a series of tweets that, "As usual, the Fed did Nothing! It is incredible that they can "speak" without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work "brilliantly" with both, and the U.S. will do great… My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powel or Chairman Xi?"
2. CHINA RETALIATION: On Friday, China announced plans for retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. China said it will implement 5% to 10% tariffs on a further $75B of U.S. imported goods, beginning September 1 and December 15. China also said it will resume 25% tariffs on U.S. autos.
Using Twitter, President Trump said that, "Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won't let that happen! We don't need China and, frankly, would be far … better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing … your companies HOME and making your products in the USA. I will be responding to China’s Tariffs [on Friday]. This is a GREAT opportunity for the United States. Also, I am ordering all carriers, including FedEx [FDX}, Amazon [AMZN], UPS [UPS] and the Post Office, to SEARCH FOR & REFUSE … all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!). Fentanyl kills 100,000 Americans a year. President Xi said this would stop – it didn’t. Our Economy, because of our grains in the last 2 ½ years, is MUCH larger than that of China. We will keep it that way!."
Twelve hours after China said it would retaliate against U.S. next round of tariffs by raising taxes on American goods, Trump said he would bolster existing tariffs on $250B worth of Chinese goods to 30% from 25% on October 1.
3. CALIFORNIA, AUTOMAKERS DEAL: In response to automakers' deal with California regulator on miles-per-gallon minimums, President Trump tweeted that, "Henry Ford would be very disappointed if he saw his modern-day descendants wanting to build a much more expensive car, that is far less safe and doesn't work as well, because execs don't want to fight California regulators. Car companies should know that when this Administration's alternative is no longer available, California will squeeze them to a point of business ruin. Only reason California is now talking to them is because the Feds are giving a far better alternative, which is much better for consumers!" Publicly traded automakers include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Daimler (DDAIF), Honda Motor (HMC), Toyota Motor (TM) and Volkswagen (VWAGY).
4. TRUMP RELATIONSHIP WITH APPLE: CNBC's Eamon Javers said earlier this week via Twitter that, "President Trump tells me he has a better relationship with Tim Cook of Apple [AAPL] than other tech executives. He says that's because Cook is the only one who calls him directly. Other tech execs hire lobbyists." On Monday, Business Insider's Jake Kanter reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook has met President Donald Trump at least five times in a year in an effort to keep him on-side amid the trade war with China. Other tech companies that have been the focus of negative tweets and commentary from President Trump include Amazon, Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR) and Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google.
5. PRESIDENT SAYS GOOGLE SHOULD BE SUED: President Trump tweeted on Monday that, "Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought! @JudicialWatch"
6. BIOFUEL DEMAND: Citing four sources familiar with the matter, Reuters’ Humeyra Pamuk and Stephanie Kelly reported that President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler at the White House to discuss ways to boost biofuel demand. The officials were expected to present Trump with options on how to boost ethanol demand which farmers say has declined since Trump's EPA granted exemptions from ethanol requirements to dozens of oil refineries, sources said. One proposal should include reversing some of the waivers the administration has granted to refineries, while another option is to redistribute the waived volumes prospectively beginning in next year's annual biofuel mandate. Publicly traded companies that may be impacted include Archer Daniels (ADM), Renewable Energy Group (REGI) and Green Plains (GPRE).
"Week in Review" is The Fly's weekly recap of its recurring series of "Trump Effect" exclusive stories.
Amazon.com
-52 (-2.88%)
FedEx
-6.17 (-3.90%)
UPS
-3.91 (-3.39%)
Ford
-0.27 (-2.99%)
General Motors
-1.19 (-3.19%)
DDAIF
+
Honda
-0.32 (-1.38%)
Toyota
-1.69 (-1.30%)
Volkswagen
+ (+0.00%)
Apple
-9.82 (-4.62%)
Ticker changed to META
-4.39 (-2.41%)
-1.16 (-2.75%)
Alphabet
-35.75 (-3.00%)
Alphabet
-36.81 (-3.10%)
Archer Daniels
-0.48 (-1.27%)
Renewable Energy
+0.61 (+5.53%)
Green Plains
-0.68 (-8.48%)