The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed 25% tariffs on Chinese-made products worth $50 billion in response to alleged technology theft, sparking growing fears of a trade war with Beijing.
The details: The U.S. Trade Representative said the new rounds of tariffs would target products "that benefit from China's industrial plans while minimizing the affect on the U.S. economy." 1,300 industries could be subjected to a 25% tariffs, include aerospace, information and communication technology, robotics, and machinery. The Chinese embassy in Washington “strongly condemns” the proposal, saying in a statement: "China is not afraid of and will not recoil from a trade war. ... If a trade war were initiated by the U.S., China would fight to the end to defend its own legitimate interests with all necessary measures"
Investing bears have spent the past several years getting stomped by the bull market, but expect their negative roars to begin getting louder. Particularly after next month, when the current economic expansion officially becomes the second-longest in American history.
Be smart: No one ever correctly predicts the specific end of a market cycle. This is more if than when, and data points are giving the naysayers more courage of their convictions.
Early data from YouGov's Brand Index, which measures daily consumer perceptions of brands, reveals that Fox News Channel's brand is experiencing more perception damage than any of the advertisers that have boycotted Laura Ingraham’s television show so far.
Why it matters: Fox News co-president Jack Abernethy says the network still supports Ingraham, who's currently taking a scheduled leave amid fallout from tweets mocking Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.
Critics, are blaming the FCC for the Sinclair Broadcast Group's unabashed conservative leanings, reports the Washington Post, after an embarrassing video showing dozens of Sinclair anchors reading a script denouncing "fake stories" went viral.
"The president's FCC, under Ajit Pai, is opening the door to major liberal networks like NBC and ABC to do exactly what Sinclair did."
— Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax Media and a friend of the president
The big picture: In late 2017,the FCC eliminated a rule that kept news stations under local control, paving the way for automated national programming. Ruddy claims the policy ruling incentivizes companies to produce homogenous content.
In 2017, the NBCU's "Audience Studio," the group that manages its advertising data platform, had over 500 clients buy ads based off of audience data — not Nielsen ratings — a 50% increase year over year, Axios has learned.
The company has sold roughly $1 billion of data-based ads over the past year, and plans to meet the same goal over the next year.
"Companies in technology, investment and other industries now say that the measures the administration is taking to help them may actually end up doing irreparable harm to supply chains they have built up over decades," the N.Y. Times' Ana Swanson reports.
The bottom line: "Any American company that wants to be a global player cannot afford to lose access to China’s growing market, executives say."
President Trump went on the defensive again for Sinclair Broadcast Group in a Tuesday morning tweet. It's the second time in as many days that Trump has come to the defense of Sinclair after the local broadcasting giant came under fire for having its anchors read a promotional script pushing a conservative agenda denouncing "fake" stories.
Bloomberg presents this stunning datapoint: "U.S. stocks had their worst April start since 1929."
The big picture: "The president — who frequently touted Wall Street’s rally following his 2016 election victory — was partly blamed for a sharp stock selloff ... that investors believe is likely to continue, deepening cracks in a nine-year-old bull run," per Reuters.
All tech and business eyes are on Spotify, as the music streaming giant goes public today without a traditional IPO process.
Why it matters: Precedent. If Spotify's direct listing is successful, other private companies may pursue their own alternative paths to public equity, including ones like Spotify's that use investment banks more as navigators than as drivers.
