In today’s edition of Rob Black’s Winners and Losers, our financial expert Rob Black and KRON4’s James Fletcher discuss Trump’s latest tariff decisions, the new Avengers movie, and Apple.
Rob Black also answers the viewer question, “Are mortgage rates going to come back down?”
Here are today’s Winners and Losers:
Winner: Trump Postpones Steel Tariff Decision for EU, Other U.S. Allies… President Donald Trump eased trade pressure on top U.S. allies Monday, giving the European Union and some nations outside the bloc more time to negotiate deals that would exempt them from U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. The White House said broad tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum—already in effect against China, Russia, Japan and others—won’t take effect for the EU Tuesday as previously planned. Instead, Europe will have an additional month to keep talking with the U.S. about a new pact to avoid the tariffs.
Winner: Disney’s Avengers Broke Records and Investors Barely Cared . . . Disney’s Marvel Studios had arguably the best weekend ever for a film studio, thanks to the unprecedented success of Avengers: Infinity War, which earned $258 million at the domestic box office. The previous opening-weekend record was held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, another Walt Disney (DIS) franchise. Marvel also held the No. 5 spot over the weekend, with its breakout hit Black Panther still drawing crowds in its third month of release. Black Panther has now made $688 million domestically since its February debut. Here’s what strikes me as odd about all this: Disney continues to show its prowess for making blockbusters, but investors don’t seem to care.
Loser: Apple Results to Show iPhone Growth Problem and Cook’s Plan to Fix It . . . ..S Apple earnings this week will confirm what most investors have finally accepted: The iPhone X didn’t live up to the hype. The results should also provide clues on the company’s next strategy for its most-important product. Investors could also still find reason for optimism in the potential for strong growth from Apple services and an upgrade to the company’s capital return program. Morgan Stanley said it expects Apple to hike the program by $150 billion to a cumulative total of $450 billion by 2020 and increase its quarterly dividend to 94.5 cents a share from 63 cents.