Week In Review: How Trump's Policies Moved Stocks - Sunday, August 30

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:

ABBOTT'S RAPID COVID TESTS

The Trump Administration unveiled Thursday a $750M deal to buy 150M rapid COVID-19 tests from Abbott (ABT). Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization to the company for a $5 rapid-response COVID-19 antigen test that is roughly the size of a credit card. It returns results in about 15 minutes, the company has noted.

COVID-18 TESTING GUIDANCE

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was pressured by higher-ups within the Trump administration to update its COVID-19 testing guidelines this week to exclude individuals who do not have symptoms of COVID-19, even if they have been recently exposed to the virus, the New York Times reported, citing two federal health officials. One official told the Times that the directive came from the top down, while another official said that the guidelines were not written by the CDC but were forced by the White House.

Admiral Brett Giroir, the Trump administration's COVID-19 testing czar, told media that the guidelines ultimately belong to the CDC, adding that other members of the president's coronavirus task force were involved, the report added. "Let me tell you right up front that the new guidelines are a CDC action," Giroir said. "As always, guidelines received appropriate attention, consultation and input from task force experts - and I mean the medical and scientific experts - including CDC director Redfield and myself."

ASTRAZENECA VACCINE 

The Trump administration is considering bypassing typical regulatory standards to fast-track an experimental coronavirus vaccine from the U.K. for use in the U.S. ahead of the Presidential election, The Financial Times' David Crow, Demetri Sevastopulo, Hannah Kuchler and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson reported, citing three people briefed on the plan. According to the people, one option being explored to speed up the availability of a vaccine would involve the FDA awarding "emergency use authorization" in October to a vaccine being developed in a partnership between AstraZeneca (AZN) and Oxford university, based on the results from a U.K. study if it is successful.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has denied that it is in discussions with the U.S. government about emergency authorization for the COVID-19 vaccine it is manufacturing, Reuters' Nandita Bose and Aram Roston report. A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca denied the company had discussed an emergency use authorization for its potential vaccine with the U.S. government and said it would be premature to speculate on that possibility. The company also said the late-stage Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials for its vaccine candidate are still ongoing in Britain and other markets globally and that it did not anticipate efficacy results until later this year.

TIKTOK SUING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

 TikTok stated in a post to its corporate website that, "We are filing a complaint in federal court challenging the Administration's efforts to ban TikTok in the US. Today, 100 million Americans turn to TikTok for entertainment, inspiration, and connection; countless creators rely on our platform to express their creativity, reach broad audiences, and generate income; our more than 1,500 employees across the US pour their hearts into building this platform every day, with 10,000 more jobs planned in California, Texas, New York, Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, and Washington State; and many of the country's leading brands are on TikTok to connect with consumers more authentically and directly than they can elsewhere. […] The Executive Order issued by the Administration on August 6, 2020 has the potential to strip the rights of that community without any evidence to justify such an extreme action, and without any due process. We strongly disagree with the Administration's position that TikTok is a national security threat and we have articulated these objections previously."

Meanwhile, China's ByteDance has told TikTok engineers this week to draw up contingency plans should it have to shut down its U.S. operations, even as it works toward selling them, Reuters' Echo Wang and Greg Roumeliotis reported, citing people familiar with the matter. ByteDance is expected to select a bidder to enter into exclusive discussions soon, the authors said, citing the sources.

According to CNBC's Alex Sherman, Walmart (WMT) wanted to become TikTok's majority owner by teaming up with Alphabet (GOOGL) and SoftBank (SFTBY) before the Trump administration nixed the idea. U.S. government officials vetoed the idea saying that a tech company needed to lead the deal so that it could effectively secure TikTok's data. In recent days, Walmart partnered with Microsoft (MSFT) when it became clear the retailer would not be able to lead the deal, Sherman said. Oracle (ORCL) and Twitter (TWTR) are also said to have entered acquisition talks with TikTok.

U.S.-CHINA TRADE

 The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement, "Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin participated in a regularly scheduled call this evening with China's Vice Premier Liu He to discuss implementation of the historic Phase One Agreement between the United States and China. The parties addressed steps that China has taken to effectuate structural changes called for by the Agreement that will ensure greater protection for intellectual property rights, remove impediments to American companies in the areas of financial services and agriculture, and eliminate forced technology transfer. The parties also discussed the significant increases in purchases of U.S. products by China as well as future actions needed to implement the agreement. Both sides see progress and are committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure the success of the agreement."