The Market In 5 Minutes: Trump, Tariffs, Trade Wars And More

IN THE NEWS

Steel and aluminum stocks are popping while the rest of the market crashes after President Donald Trump said he will be announcing new steel and aluminum tariffs as early as next week: Link

Amid backlash from economists, national security experts and foreign leaders, Trump defended his position on Twitter: Link

Oncological drug developers have fierce competition for patients, both in trials and in market. But Moleculin Biotech Inc MBRX rests secure, snugly insulated from the battle: Link

Bitcoin Private, the product of a hard fork merger between the cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ZClassic, will bring the transaction sets of each currency together to form a new blockchain when it launches March 2: Link

Pivotal votes in Italy and Germany this weekend spotlight a fact central to the continent’s political upheavals: the shriveling of the moderate left, which helped build modern Europe: Link $

Xerox Corp XRX said activist investor Darwin Deason does not have any right to nominate directors to the company’s board outside of the nomination window, following his attempt to nominate a full slate of directors: Link

Former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci tore into White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, accusing him of blocking his access to the president at the White House and Davos and driving away Trump’s most-important advisers at a critical moment when the White House is in chaos: Link

ECONOMIC DATA

• USA University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment for Feb 99.70 vs 99.50 Est; Prior 95.70
• The Baker Hughes North American rig count report for the latest week will be released at 1:00 p.m. ET.

ANALYST RATINGS

• Keybanc upgraded Allegheny Technologies ATII from Sector Weight to Overweight
• BMO upgraded SpartanNash SPTN from Market Perform to Outperform
• Stifel downgraded VMWare VMW from Buy to Hold
• Oppenheimer downgraded Walmart WMT from Outperform to Perform

This is a tool used by the Benzinga News Desk each trading day — it's a look at everything happening in the market, in five minutes. To get the full version of this note every morning, click here.