President Trump said he would raise tariffs against China on Friday in the aftermath of China's newly announced tariffs and a steep stock market drop.
What's happening: Trump said on Friday that $250 billion worth of goods and products from China would be taxed at 30% instead of 25%, starting Oct. 1, and the remaining $300 billion worth of goods will be taxed at 15%, instead of 10%.
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe will join CNN as a contributor starting Friday — a move that quickly sparked conservative criticism, CNBC reports.
Background: President Trump publicly sparred with McCabe over his relationship with former FBI director James Comey. McCabe was fired in March 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for allegedly sharing details about the Russia investigation with the media and subsequently lying to investigators about it, says the Washington Post.
Global economic concerns eating into the leveraged loans market, thus making it more difficult for private equity to close deals.
Why it matters: Five U.S. leveraged loan offerings have been pulled so far this month. Summer vacations could be to blame, but this summer is the exception. Instead, the last such slowdown came at year-end 2018, mirroring broader economic worries.
President Trump significantly escalated his trade war rhetoric on Friday with a series of tweets — just two days after tweeting that things were "great with China."
"Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA."
The bottom line: It should go without saying that Trump doesn't have the authority to order U.S. companies to look for alternatives to China.
Hasbro agreed to buy Entertainment One, the studio behind children's TV show "Peppa Pig," for around $4 billion.
Why it matters: This one could become a real muddy puddle. Hasbro's £5.60 per share represents a 26% premium to Thursday's closing price, but shares subsequently climbed even higher — with some investors and analysts expecting that a content company will try to top the toymaker.
Fed Chair Jay Powell said in a closely watched speech Friday that the central bank is ready to support economic growth but "stopped short of signaling the start of a more aggressive easing campaign," the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Worries of an economic downturn have increased in recent weeks, and Powell warned that "trade policy uncertainty" is a driving factor for the market's fears. President Trump has stepped up his calls for the Fed to do more to stimulate the economy — going so far as to tweet just minutes before Powell's speech — even though interest rates are already near historic lows.
China announced Friday that it would levy retaliatory tariffs ranging from 5% to 10% on $75 billion of U.S. goods in two batches on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, per CNBC.
Why it matters, via Axios' Dan Primack: Expectations were that the markets would be focused primarily on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech in Jackson Hole this morning, but this news will refocus investors on trade.
Sources close to President Trump tell Axios that the White House is in a China bind: A trade deal with China is "tough to improbable" in this deteriorating environment, with escalating security tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Why it matters: The biggest tool Trump has to pump the economy and the markets is a trade deal with China. But if anything, senior administration officials have turned harder against China in recent weeks.
Several companies and investors around the globe are pouring billions of dollars into a new wave of news aggregation apps that they hope will steer news traffic away from tech giants like Google and Facebook.
Why it matters: The dominance of a handful of tech companies over the entire news and information landscape is worrying policymakers around the world.
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