APPLE CITES CHINA FIGHT IN GUIDANCE CUT: 

When lowering his company's sales outlook for the first quarter, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook said on Wednesday night that, "We believe the economic environment in China has been further impacted by rising trade tensions with the United States." President Donald Trump weighed in on Thursday by tweeting, "The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly. In the meantime, we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done!" During a press briefing Friday, following a meeting with congressional leaders about reopening the federal government, President Trump said he was not concerned about Apple's revenue guidance cut or its share price. He added that he has told Apple's Cook previously that he should be making iPhones and other products in the U.S.

‘READY TO WORK’ WITH DEMOCRATS: 

Using his Twitter account, President Donald Trump said that, "Important meeting [Wednesday] on Border Security with Republican and Democrat Leaders in Congress. Both parties must work together to pass a Funding Bill that protects this Nation and its people - this is the first and most important duty of government. I remain ready and willing to work with Democrats to pass a bill that secures our borders, supports the agents and officers on the ground, and keeps America Safe. Let's get it done!" In his Friday post-meeting briefing, Trump confirmed that he is prepared for the ongoing government shutdown to go on for months or years, though he does not think that it will and he hopes it will be over within days. In describing the meeting, he said it may have been "contentious" but it was also "very productive."

STEEL TARIFFS: 

The U.S. Commerce Department has granted roughly 75% of the 19,000 requests it reviewed to exclude products from tariffs on foreign steel as of December 17, but the process is seemingly full of inconsistencies and frequent procedural changes, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing manufacturers and importers. In addition, over 15,000 objections have been submitted on some 9,000 still-pending exclusion requests with most of the objections filed by Nucor (NUE), U.S. Steel (X), AK Steel Holding (AKS), TimkenSteel (TMST) and Webco Industries, which argue the agency should reject requests because their companies make products similar or identical to those purchased abroad.

OBAMACARE: 

According to a report from The Hill, an alliance of Democratic states supporting "ObamaCare" filed a notice to appeal on Thursday "a recent federal court ruling that struck down the health care law as unconstitutional, sparking what's likely to be a lengthy legal fight that could reach the Supreme Court and influence the 2020 elections." "In this particular case we believe the stakes are not only great but compelling," said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Publicly traded companies in the space include Aetna (AET), Anthem (ANTM), Centene (CNC), Cigna (CI), Health Net (HNT), Humana (HUM), Molina Healthcare (MOH), UnitedHealth (UNH) and WellCare (WCG).