Week In Review: How Trump's Policies Moved Stocks - July 28th, 2019
DOJ probes big tech as Trump says no to Apple request for tariff relief
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. DOJ PROBING BIG TECH: On July 23, The Department of Justice announced that the Department's Antitrust Division is reviewing whether and how "market-leading online platforms" have achieved market power and are engaging in practices that have reduced competition, stifled innovation, or otherwise harmed consumers. "The Department's review will consider the widespread concerns that consumers, businesses, and entrepreneurs have expressed about search, social media, and some retail services online," the DOJ stated. While not calling out any companies by name, the description of the concerns raised appears to point to the fact that Google (GOOGL), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL), at a minimum, will be investigated.
2. APPLE TARIFF RELIEF DENIED: Apple has asked the White House to exclude components that make up the upcoming Mac Pro high-end desktop computer from import tariffs, weeks after planning to shift production of the line to China from Texas, Bloomberg's Mark Niquette and Mark Gurman reported. The U.S. tech giant wants relief from duties of 25% on key Mac Pro parts and accessories that go with it, the authors said, citing filings with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. On Friday, President Trump tweeted: "Apple will not be given Tariff wavers, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!"
3. GOOGLE 'MAY OR MAY NOT' POSE NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS: On July 24, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said while being interviewed on CNBC that he does not see any area in which Google is working with the Chinese government that raises concerns in any way. However, in another tweet on Friday, President Trump said: "There may or may not be National Security concerns with regard to Google and their relationship with China. If there is a problem, we will find out about it. I sincerely hope there is not!!!"
4. HUAWEI SALES: President Trump agreed to grant timely licensing decisions to U.S. tech firms that seek to continue sales to China's Huawei as the White House aims to restart trade negotiations with Beijing, the Wall Street Journal's Alex Leary and Josh Zumbrun reported on Monday. The White House made the announcement following a meeting the President held with CEOs from seven major chip makers and technology companies, including Qualcomm (QCOM), Intel (INTC), and Google, the authors noted. "The CEOs expressed strong support of the president's policies, including national security restrictions on United States telecom equipment purchases and sales to Huawei," the White House said. "They requested timely licensing decisions from the Department of Commerce, and the president agreed. The group was also optimistic about United States 5G innovation and deployments." Also present at the meeting were the CEOs of Micron (MU), Western Digital (WDC), Cisco (CSCO), and Broadcom (AVGO), the authors noted.
5. DRUG PRICING ORDER: President Donald Trump is mulling a major executive order that would slash prices on virtually all branded prescription drugs sold to Medicare and other government programs, Reuters' Michael Erman and Carl O'Donnell reported earlier this week, citing two industry sources who had discussions with the White House. The order under consideration would be much broader than Trump's previously disclosed proposal to cut prices on physician administered medicines by tying prices to lower costs in other countries, the authors said. The White House is now eyeing ways to use this or a similar method to lower prices in Medicare's much bigger Part D, which is for widely use prescription medications patients take at home, the authors noted. Publicly traded drugmakers include AstraZeneca (AZN), Bristol-Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK), Novartis (NVS), Pfizer (PFE), Roche (RHHBY) and Sanofi (SNY).
Disclosure: None