Week In Review: How Trump's Policies Moved Stocks, July 28th

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 Trump and his administration with this weekly recap compiled by The Fly:

1. U.S.-CHINA TRADE: Earlier this week, U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM) confirmed it is terminating the company's proposed takeover of NXP (NXPI) after China failed to grant it regulatory approval. The former also said it would proceed with a stock buyback of up to $30B that it had promised shareholders should the deal fall apart. Meanwhile, China withdrew its approval for Facebook's (FB) plan to open a new venture in the eastern province of Zheijiang, according to The New York Times, citing a person familiar with the matter. China's decision comes amid increasing trade tensions with the U.S. as the two largest economies impose tariffs on each other's imports.

2. U.S.-EU TRADE: Speaking in a joint news conference on Wednesday, President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said they have agreed to begin discussions on eliminating the tariffs and subsidies that hamper trade across the Atlantic, and to resolve the steel and aluminum tariffs the Trump administration had imposed as well as the retaliatory tariffs the EU imposed in response.

3. AUTOS: On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Doug Jones and Lamar Alexander introduced the Automotive Jobs Act of 2018, a bipartisan bill to delay President Trump's recently proposed 25% tariff on imported cars, trucks, and auto parts. At the President's direction, the U.S. Commerce Department initiated a Section 232 investigation in May to determine whether imported automobiles, trucks, and parts are a threat to U.S. national security and to subsequently levy tariffs. The senators' legislation requires the International Trade Commission to conduct a comprehensive study of the well-being, health, and vitality of the U.S. auto industry before tariffs could be applied. Publicly traded automakers include Ford (F), General Motors (GM), Daimler AG (DDAIF), Fiat Chrysler (FCAU), Honda (HMC), Nissan (NSANY), Toyota (TM) and Volkswagen (VLKAY).

4. AMAZON: President Trump targeted Amazon (AMZN) in a series of tweets on Monday, marking his latest attack against the e-commerce giant and its CEO Jeff Bezos. "The Amazon Washington Post has gone crazy against me ever since they lost the Internet Tax Case in the U.S. Supreme Court two months ago. Next up is the U.S. Post Office which they use, at a fraction of real cost, as their 'delivery boy' for a BIG percentage of their packages [...] In my opinion the Washington Post is nothing more than an expensive (the paper loses a fortune) lobbyist for Amazon. Is it used as protection against antitrust claims which many feel should be brought?," the President said via Twitter.

5. TWITTER: On Thursday, The Hill reported that Rep. Matt Gaetz said he feels "victimized" by Twitter (TWTR) after being allegedly "shadow banned" by the social media platform. A spokesman from Gaetz's office said they noticed "a significant decrease" in the number of followers gained and retweets around May 15, around the time period the company implemented a new policy to tamp down "troll-like behaviors that distort and detract from the public conversation," the publication noted. President Trump then tweeted: "Twitter "SHADOW BANNING" prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints." Twitter responded in a blog post, "People are asking us if we shadow ban. We do not...And we certainly don't shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology. We do rank tweets and search results. We do this because Twitter is most useful when it's immediately relevant."

Disclaimer: TheFly's news is intended for informational purposes only and does not claim to be actionable for investment decisions. Read more at 

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