Week In Review: How Trump's Policies Moved Stocks - Saturday, November 4

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. TAX REFORM: On Thursday, House Republicans released the long-awaited tax bill that seeks to simplify the tax code and reduce corporate rates. The "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" wants to reduce the number of tax brackets from seven to four, maintaining the top marginal rate at 39.6%, and almost double the standard deduction, according to ABC News. The bill also would permanently reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate from 35% to 20%, the report noted.

2. HOMEBUILDERS: Several names in the homebuilding space were under pressure on Thursday after the Republican tax plan proposed capping the mortgage interest tax deduction to new mortgages of $500,000 or less. Presently, Americans can deduct interest on mortgages of up to $1M from their income. Publicly traded homebuilders include Beazer Homes (BZH), D.R. Horton (DHI), Hovnanian (HOV), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN), M.D.C. Holdings (MDC), CalAtlantic (CAA), PulteGroup (PHM) and Toll Brothers (TOL).

3. RENEWABLE ENERGY: B. Riley FBR analyst Benjamin Salisbury called the House tax reform proposal a "mixed bag" for renewable energy credits, noting that it would end the tax credit for commercial-scale solar projects after 2027, reduce the available wind tax credit and extend the orphaned tax credits, including fuel cells. The plan is still being negotiated and Salisbury sees a 30%-40% probability that Congress can pass a tax cut mirroring the recent GOP blueprint and a 55%-65% chance they could pass a scaled-down version. Publicly traded companies in the solar space include Canadian Solar (CSIQ), First Solar (FSLR), JA Solar (JASO), SunPower (SPWR), Trina Solar (TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (YGE).

4. PLUG POWER: Following the Republican tax bill announcement, Plug Power (PLUG) said in a blog post that, "Included in the bill is a provision that would reinstate the Fuel Cell Investment Tax Credit. We applaud the Committee for addressing the market disparity that was created in 2015. [...] As we await passage in the House and then turn to the Senate, we are confident that our champions in both houses will keep fighting to get this done and restore parity for our growing industry here in the United States helping protect and grow good paying American manufacturing and service jobs."

5. GOLDMAN SACHS: According to a report by Reuters earlier this week, Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein is planning to visit China as part of a business delegation at the same time as President Trump intends to visit the country. Blankfein will be the only executive of a major financial institution traveling to China as part of the trade mission, which is being led by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, the report noted. Executives from companies such as GE (GE), Honeywell (HON), and Boeing (BA) are on the list, in addition to a large number of leaders from energy and commodities groups, the publication added.

6. RUSSIA INVESTIGATION: Earlier this week, Bloomberg said that former Trump adviser George Papadopoulos claims that top campaign officials for Donald Trump agreed to a pre-election meeting with representatives of Russian President Vladimir Putin. There is no indication that any such meeting ever actually happened, the report noted. Meanwhile, Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Facebook (FB) and other tech firms met earlier this month to discuss potential joint strategies to address congressional concerns at hearings regarding Russian influence on the 2016 election amid a populist turn against the companies, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Week in Review" is The Fly's weekly recap of its recurring series of "Trump Effect" exclusive stories.
 

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