Saturday's economy stories

The 5 most popular stories from Trump's first 6 months as POTUS
A story written on Sally Yates firing has received the most social engagements of any other Trump story since he took office, according to SocialFlow. It used an algorithm to calculate which published stories had the most total engagement seconds based on whether someone clicked, reacted to, commented on or shared the article. Here are the top 5 most engaged stories from Trump's first 6 months in office:
- Sally Yates fired, Jan.31
- Trump calls for investigation into alleged voter fraud, Jan 26
- House forced to postpone first ACA repeal vote, March 24
- Developments in the Trump-Russia dossier story, March 23
- Mar a Lago kitchen cited for health violations, April 13
(The publishers of the stories could not be disclosed.)

Sarah Sanders replaces Sean Spicer as press secretary
Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders briefed reporters on-camera (for the first time in 22 days) following Sean Spicer's resignation from the White House. Sanders then brought Anthony Scaramucci, the newly appointed WH Communications Director, up to the podium, where he announced that Sanders will replace Spicer moving forward. "The president loves Sarah. He think she's doing a phenomenal job," said Scaramucci.

Amazon is under investigation for inflating its prices
The Federal Trade Commission is looking into claims that Amazon was deceptive about its pricing discounts, reports Reuters, citing a source close to the investigation. The probe, which was spurred by a complaint from the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, is part of the FTC's review of Amazon's agreement to acquire Whole Foods.
In a letter to the FTC, the group alleged that Amazon had been inflating the list prices on roughly 46% of its products, making Amazon's prices look like a bargain. As a result, Consumer Watchdog asked the FTC to stop Amazon from purchasing Whole Foods while the deceptive pricing continued. Amazon hit back and said the conclusions the Consumer Watchdog reached from its analysis are "flat out wrong."
Why it matters: Critics argue that Amazon's agreement to buy Whole Foods would give the e-commerce giant an unfair advantage over competitors. While there isn't an obvious antitrust angle for blocking the acquisition, other red flags raised by critics, like this one, could slow down the review.
Sears makes the jump: Will sell Kenmore appliances on Amazon
"Sears Links With Amazon, Jolting Appliance Industry" — Wall Street Journal front-pager by Suzanne Kapner and Laura Stevens: "Sears... said... it will start selling its Kenmore appliances on Amazon, loosening its grip on one of its historic product lines and becoming the latest big American brand to capitulate to the online-retail giant."
Why it matters: "Amazon's rapid growth has displaced traditional stores and left even powerful brands unable to ignore it. Nike Inc., one of the biggest holdouts, recently decided to start selling directly to Amazon."


Why Trump wants "Mooch" as his mouthpiece
Watching cable news, President Trump admired the scrappy style of Anthony Scaramucci, a brash Wall Streeter widely known as "Mooch," and would ask aloud why the financier wasn't working for him. Now, Trump is expected to announce Scaramucci as White House communications director, a job that's been open since Mike Dubke resigned in May.
- The intrigue: At 10 a.m. today, Trump will hold a meeting about Scaramucci that will include Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, who may try to block or delay the hiring.
- Who he is: "Mooch" is a major Republican donor who supported Trump during the general election campaign — after fundraising during the primaries for Scott Walker and Jeb Bush. He frequently appears on Fox News and is a longtime friend of Sean Hannity.
- Scaramucci recently sold his stake in his hedge fund, SkyBridge Capital (making an estimated $100 million), but was left stranded after an initially planned job in the White House didn't materialize. Scaramucci is currently working at the Export-Import Bank.

Ari Melber's new MSNBC show will debut Monday
Ari Melber, MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, told Politico's Hadas Gold that his new show "The Beat" will debut Monday.
Melber's show is replacing Greta Van Susteren's 6pm "For the Record."
Melber, a former lawyer and Senate aide, told Gold that he plans to use his past experiences to help shed light on "the most unusual political story of our time" in an "evidence driven exciting broadcast that people can trust." He also plans to add younger voices to his show and people outside of the Washington bubble.

Trump admin sticks by plan to oversee fintech startups
Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika, accused of being a tool of the financial industry, is surprising critics by adopting a relatively nuanced approach to regulation of "fintech" firms, in the emerging technology-based financial services sector.
In a speech Wednesday, Noreika defended a plan put forth by his predecessor, Obama-appointee Thomas Curry, that would enforce federal rather than state regulatory predominance over fintechs. Specifically, Noreika sided with Curry's assertion of the right to issue special federal banking charters to fintech firms like peer-to-peer lenders.







