Week In Review: How Trump's Policies Moved Stocks - Sunday, July 26th
Facebook puts label on Trump post, Pfizer/BioNTech to supply U.S. up to 600M COVID vaccine doses
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. 'VOTING INFO' LABEL: Facebook (FB) on Tuesday slapped a "voting info" label on a post by President Trump that claimed mail-in voting would lead to a "CORRUPT ELECTION," Reuters' David Shepardson and Elizabeth Culliford reported. The label is the most recent of several attached to posts by Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden since the social media giant rolled out a policy to add information to posts by federal candidates and elected officials, the authors noted.
"Mail-In Voting, unless changed by the courts, will lead to the most CORRUPT ELECTION in our Nation's History! #RIGGEDELECTION," Trump alleged in the post. Voting by mail is not new in the U.S., and experts say that routine methods and the decentralized nature of U.S. elections make it very difficult to interfere with mailed ballots, the authors added. Though the Facebook label does not dispute the president's claim, it redirects users to details from a U.S. government website on how to vote in the 2020 elections, the publication said.
2. COVID VACCINE PACT: Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech (BNTX) announced the execution of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense to meet the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed program goal to begin delivering 300M doses of a vaccine for COVID-19 in 2021. Under the agreement, the U.S. government will receive 100M doses of BNT162, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, after Pfizer successfully manufactures and obtains approval or emergency use authorization from the FDA.
The U.S. government will pay the companies $1.95B upon the receipt of the first 100M doses, following FDA authorization or approval. The U.S. government also can acquire up to an additional 500M doses. Americans will receive the vaccine for free consistent with U.S. government's commitment for free access for COVID-19 vaccines.
3. U.S. INVESTORS ATTEMPT TO ACQUIRE TIKTOK: A collection of U.S. tech investors has initiated a plan to purchase TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance, as the popular video app attempts to escape being banned by the White House, the Financial Times' Henny Sender, Arash Massoudi, Miles Kruppa, and Hannah Murphy reported. The investors, led by General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital, are in talks with the U.S. Treasury and other regulators to see if spinning out TikTok and firewalling it from its Chinese parent would assuage U.S. concerns over the platform, the authors said, citing two people involved in the process.
President Trump's election campaign has recently posted ads on Facebook indicating that TikTok was "spying on U.S. users, an allegation the company has denied, according to the publication. The Fly notes that, earlier this week, The Information's Juro Osawa and Tom Dotan reported that a small group of ByteDance's U.S. investors were discussing the possibility of joining forces to acquire a majority stake in TikTok. The Fly also points out that Facebook now has a rival video editing app called Instagram Reels and Snap (SNAP) is a competitor in the social media space.
4. U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS: The U.S. has ordered the closure of China's consulate in Houston, Texas "in order to protect American intellectual property" and private information of U.S. citizens, The Wall Street Journal's Chun Han Wong reported. Washington's demand marked "a political provocation unilaterally launched by the U.S.," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Wednesday at a briefing in Beijing. "China urges the U.S. to immediately rescind its erroneous decision, otherwise China will undertake legitimate and necessary responses." State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus didn't specify what Chinese actions prompted Washington's decision, but said "President Trump insists on fairness and reciprocity in U.S.-China relations."
On Friday, China ordered the closure of the United States consulate in Chengdu in retaliation. A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the U.S. had "unilaterally provoked the incident" by ordering the closure of the Houston office, an action that was said to have "seriously violated international law and the basic norms of international relations," reported CNN.
5. TESLA'S 'BIG WIN': On Friday, President Trump tweeted that, "Great job by @elonmusk in agreeing to build, in TEXAS, what is expected to be the largest auto plant anywhere in the world. He kept his word to me. Texas & @Tesla are big winners. MADE IN THE USA!"
Great job by @elonmusk in agreeing to build, in TEXAS, what is expected to be the largest auto plant anywhere in the world. He kept his word to me. Texas & @Tesla are big winners. MADE IN THE USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2020
Earlier in the week, along with its earnings report, Tesla (TSLA) announced that it will construct its next Gigafactory in Texas, near Austin. The company said it will be a "stunning" factory" and an "ecological paradise" that will be open to the public. Tesla reported that its Cybertruck, Semi, Model 3 and Model Y production will occur at the new Gigafactory in Texas when it is up and running.
Disclosure: None.