Plus, the White House is planning to unleash new tariffs on China on December 15, France warned the EU will retaliate if the U.S. moves forward with tariffs on French goods, and Roku got an upgrade.
Stocks dropped Tuesday morning with the Dow falling more than 400 points at the open. The S&P 500 traded 1.2% lower, while the Nasdaq dropped 1.3%.
The White House plans to move ahead with scheduled tariffs on Chinese goods set to go into effect on December 15, according to a report from Fox News. President Donald Trump also said this morning that he may wait until after the 2020 election to complete a trade deal with China. “In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we will see whether or not the deal is going to be right,” Trump told reporters in London. “The China trade deal is dependent on one thing: Do I want to make it? Because we’re doing very well with China right now and we could do even better with the flick of a pen.”
In other trade war news, Chinese state media said the government will soon publish a list of U.S. companies it calls “unreliable entities” that could face sanctions, the Global Times tweeted early Tuesday, in a signal that shows trade talks between China and the U.S. are increasingly under threat. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news briefing that “China will take further necessary measures according to the development of the situation” following the U.S. passing the bill supporting protesters in Hong Kong, which infuriated Beijing.
France’s government said the European Union will retaliate if the U.S. moves forward on a threat to impose tariffs on $2.4 billion of French products over a dispute over how large U.S. tech companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon are taxed. “It’s not worth of an ally, and it’s not the behavior we expect from the U.S. toward on of its main allies, France, and more generally, Europe,” Trend Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday. “If there were new U.S. sanctions, the EU would be ready to retaliate.” President Trump responded that “They’re American companies. If they’re going to be taxed, the U.S. will tax them.”
Cyber Monday sales hit a record $9.4 billion, up 19.7% from a year ago according to data released by Adobe Analytics. Adobe also found that shoppers spent 6% more this year at checkout than last year. While e-commerce giant Amazon didn’t release any data about its Cyber Monday sales, it did say that the top selling categories were toys, home, fashion, health, and personal care, with the top toys sold between Black Friday and Cyber Monday including Monopoly: Disney Frozen 2 Edition, and Lego Star Wars Darth Vader’s Castle. Adobe forecasts online shares for the whole holiday season will hit $143.8 billion, while shoppers have already spent $81.5 billion online between November 1 and December 2.
Roku shares bounced nearly 6% this morning after falling -15% yesterday following Morgan Stanley downgrading the stock. Needham analyst Laura Martin reaffirmed her Buy rating on Roku shares, forecasting strong growth for the streaming device maker. “Roku is an arms dealer for high quality internet-delivered TV and movie content,” Martin wrote. “In 2020, Roku’s key upside valuation driver will be accelerating SVOD [subscription video on demand] revenues, which lowers investment risk, we believe.” Martin also raised her price target for the stock to $200 from $150, indicating nearly 40% upside over the next twelve months.
Stocks We’re Watching
Universal Technical Institute Inc (NYSE: UTI): Shares of this transportation technician training provider jumped more than 5% yesterday after reporting results for its fiscal fourth quarter. Universal Technical Institute reported a revenue increase of 9.2% year-over-year to $87.7 million in the quarter, driving fiscal 2019 revenue to $331.5 million, up 4.6% versus the year before. “UTI delivered start growth every quarter of fiscal 2019,” said UTI CEO Jerome Grant. “Our multi-pronged strategy is delivering results, with enrollments, student starts, revenue, profitability, and cash flow all coming in at or better than our expectations. As we continued to open new campuses, optimize our cost structure and footprint, and reshape our approach to marketing, admissions, operational execution and industry engagement in fiscal 2019, we have built a solid foundation for the business and have set ourselves up for the next phase of profitable growth.”