The Dow Jones today is sliding after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would ban Chinese social media apps WeChat and TikTok from doing business with American firms.
The Chinese company has threatened legal action against the Trump administration. Threat of a technology war looms among the world's two largest economic powers. The Trump administration says that the app can allow the Chinese government to spy on U.S. employees and contractors. It could potentially collect personal data for the purposes of blackmail, conduct further corporate spying, and be used to create "disinformation campaigns" by the Chinese Communist Party.
Here are the numbers from Thursday for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
| Index | Previous Close | Point Change | Percentage Change |
| Dow Jones | 27,386.98 | +185.46 | +0.68 |
| S&P 500 | 3,349.16 | +21.39 | +0.64 |
| Nasdaq | 11,108.07 | +109.67 | +1.00 |
Now here are what I think will be the most important market events and stocks on Friday morning.
The Top Stock Market Stories for Monday
Next, the U.S. Labor Department announced this morning that the official unemployment rate in the United States fell to 10.2%. The economy added 1.76 million jobs in July, topping the 1.48 million expected by analysts (consensus expectations for the unemployment rate for the month came in at 10.6%). The report also shows that the number of discouraged workers and unemployed people holding part-time jobs dipped from 18% to 16.5%. Even though bars and restaurants have struggled during the pandemic, they showed growth of 502,000 jobs in July.
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- COVID-19 stimulus remains the talk of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle are attempting to reach a deal that would provide stimulus to Americans after extended unemployment benefits ended in July. Roughly 1 million Americans signed up for unemployment benefits for the first time last week as the virus continues to spread. Johns Hopkins University reports that nearly 4.88 million cases have occurred in the United States.
- Finally, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has an idea to pay for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses for Americans during the pandemic. He and several Democratic Senators have proposed the subtly named "Make Billionaires Pay Act," a bill that would tax billionaires one time at a 60% rate on all money they earned between March 18, 2020 and Jan. 1, 2021. The proposed deal would cost Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos $42.8 billion and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk $27.5 billion. As of Aug. 5, the bill would tax $731 billion in wealth generated by about 467 billionaires since the market started rallying again on March 18.
Stocks to Watch Today: GILD, UBER, TMUS, T, VZ
- Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) announced it has the capacity to make enough of the antiviral drug remdesivir to meet expected global demand to address the pandemic by October. The company said it will produce 2 million doses of the drug by the end of 2020 and says it can produce "several million more" in 2021. The drug has helped shorten the recovery time of some patients with the virus. The U.S. government granted a deal to the company in late June that effectively purchased nearly all of its supply from July through September.
- In earnings news, shares of Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER) are off more than 2% after the company reported a sharper than expected quarterly earnings decline. COVID-19 has impacted the company's top and bottom line due to falling demand in the ridesharing business during the outbreak. The firm reported earnings per share of $1.02, higher than the $0.86 expected by Wall Street. The firm did say that it saw stronger demand from UberEats, its delivery service.
- Shares of T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) topped earnings expectations by reporting EPS of $0.09. The company also topped revenue expectations as well. The most important figure, however, was the news that it is now the No. 2 mobile carrier in the nation by a number of subscribers. The company overtook AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) to capture that position. It now trails only Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) in terms of number of subscribers.
5G Was Following in the Footsteps of 4G Until the FCC Stepped In
By now, you've heard the 5G story a million times over. You've seen the billboards, you've seen the commercials, and you've seen the hype campaigns.
But there's a key reason why there hasn't been a nationwide rollout yet.
It was following in the footsteps of the 10 years it took 4G to roll out... but the FCC just stepped in with a $10 billion initiative to supercharge 5G.
Here's how to take your slice.
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About the Author
Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.