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Moments ago, President Trump took to his Twitter account to promise lower drug prices for Americans. Saying he’s working on a new system to increase competition among drug manufacturers, “Pricing for the American people will come way down!” That’s not the only thing: pre-market shares of Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Novartis (NOV - Free Report) fell immediately, 1.14% and 1.65%, respectively.
Following a big bull rally that began about a month ago on pro-business growth Trump administration policies — tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending — market futures are again pointing into the red for the fourth straight day on the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500, largely on the prospect of an interest rate hike next week from the Federal Reserve. A quarter-point hike would bring the Fed rate to 75-100 basis points.
News from Capitol Hill revolves around a new draft to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) from the House of Representatives. Actually there are two bills currently put forward by House Republicans, whereby insurance subsidies on the federal level will give way to tax credits to individuals and grants on the state level to pay for healthcare costs under a new program.
Both measures would actually keep the two most popular features of Obamacare: that a pre-existing medical condition cannot be grounds for denying coverage by insurers, and allowing minors to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. But Planned Parenthood would no longer have access to reimbursements of Medicaid or family planning grants on the federal level, which is a signature of social conservative interests.
In other news, the U.S. trade balance now registers the highest deficit since March 2012 at -$48.5 billion. This January read blossomed more than $4 billion deeper than the December total. However, analysts consider this in-line with expectations, and market futures seemed to either ignore or shrug off the impact.
Tomorrow we will see private sector jobs numbers from a report from ADP (ADP - Free Report) , the payroll processing major. As always, this anticipates the full government jobs report expected before the bell Friday. These numbers over the past three quarters of a year have been historically very strong overall; why this is feeling extra weight this time around is because it precedes next week’s Fed meeting, and further strength in the U.S. labor market would only help solidify the odds — currently around 80% likelihood — that interest rates will rise next week.
Image: Bigstock
Trump Tweets, Drug Stocks Tank
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Moments ago, President Trump took to his Twitter account to promise lower drug prices for Americans. Saying he’s working on a new system to increase competition among drug manufacturers, “Pricing for the American people will come way down!” That’s not the only thing: pre-market shares of Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and Novartis (NOV - Free Report) fell immediately, 1.14% and 1.65%, respectively.
Following a big bull rally that began about a month ago on pro-business growth Trump administration policies — tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending — market futures are again pointing into the red for the fourth straight day on the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500, largely on the prospect of an interest rate hike next week from the Federal Reserve. A quarter-point hike would bring the Fed rate to 75-100 basis points.
News from Capitol Hill revolves around a new draft to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) from the House of Representatives. Actually there are two bills currently put forward by House Republicans, whereby insurance subsidies on the federal level will give way to tax credits to individuals and grants on the state level to pay for healthcare costs under a new program.
Both measures would actually keep the two most popular features of Obamacare: that a pre-existing medical condition cannot be grounds for denying coverage by insurers, and allowing minors to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. But Planned Parenthood would no longer have access to reimbursements of Medicaid or family planning grants on the federal level, which is a signature of social conservative interests.
In other news, the U.S. trade balance now registers the highest deficit since March 2012 at -$48.5 billion. This January read blossomed more than $4 billion deeper than the December total. However, analysts consider this in-line with expectations, and market futures seemed to either ignore or shrug off the impact.
Tomorrow we will see private sector jobs numbers from a report from ADP (ADP - Free Report) , the payroll processing major. As always, this anticipates the full government jobs report expected before the bell Friday. These numbers over the past three quarters of a year have been historically very strong overall; why this is feeling extra weight this time around is because it precedes next week’s Fed meeting, and further strength in the U.S. labor market would only help solidify the odds — currently around 80% likelihood — that interest rates will rise next week.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
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