President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners throughout the world Wednesday, saying the U.S. would add a 10% minimum baseline tax on all products coming in. The Trump administration has identified what it has called the ‘Dirty 15’ as the 15 nations with the largest trade deficit with the U.S., meaning the trade partnerships by which Washington imports more from countries than those nations import from the U.S. But the White House...
The Supreme Court appeared divided Wednesday over whether a state can block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, in a technical interpretation over healthcare choices that has become a larger political fight over abortion access. In nearly two hours of oral arguments, the court’s conservative majority offered measured support for South Carolina’s position. The specific issue is whether low-income Medicaid patients can sue in order to choose their own qualified healthcare provider. The federal-state program...
President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs during a highly anticipated ‘Make America Wealthy Again’ event which he said will restore the American dream and bolster jobs for U.S. workers. ‘American steel workers, auto workers, farmers and skilled craftsmen,’ Trump said from the White House Rose Garden Wednesday afternoon. ‘We have a lot of them here with us today. They really suffered, gravely. They watched in anguish as foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters...
Senate Democrats signaled more challenges to President Donald Trump’s emergency declarations at a press conference ahead of a forced floor vote to undo his tariffs against Canada. ‘One at a time,’ Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters on Wednesday when asked if we would also be introducing a privileged resolution canceling Trump’s emergency declaration in Mexico. ‘Let’s get this one done. And if we can get this one done and succeed, then we also have...
President Donald Trump is poised to unveil a massive series of reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, when he will likely impose duties on multiple countries as part of what his administration has labeled ‘Liberation Day.’ Trump and his administration have long decried that other countries are engaging in unfair trade practices against the U.S., and have advocated for employing tariffs to rectify the nation’s 2024 record $1.2 trillion trade deficit. Despite previewing this massive round of...
When the stock market lacks clear direction, options strategies can be a dependable friend. I often go through the OptionsPlay ChartLists in StockCharts to look for stocks that show potential trading or investing opportunities. On Tuesday, as I was scrolling through the Bearish Trend Following Strategies in the OptionsPlay Strategy Center, using a balanced risk profile and max risk of $2,500 as the criteria, a long put on Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) stock showed up...
Historically, the vice presidency has played a subdued political role, except for those who later became president. But since taking office, Vice President JD Vance has broken the mold, becoming a constant presence in international discourse from South America to Germany to Australia. ‘I think at a different time in American history it made sense for the vice president to be in the background, maybe a hundred years ago, when we didn’t have such a...
A historic tree at the White House will meet the end of its lifespan soon – but an expert says that’s not necessarily a bad thing. On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that he plans to chop down a southern magnolia purportedly planted by former President Andrew Jackson. The Republican wrote that he was working with ‘the wonderful people at the National Park Service’ to make ‘tremendous enhancements to the White House, thereby preserving and...
: Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is unveiling on Wednesday the upper chamber’s changes to a House-passed budget resolution in a breakthrough for getting President Donald Trump’s key agenda items through Congress. With the Senate’s latest action, Republicans’ much-anticipated budget reconciliation resolution is one step closer to passage, in what would be a huge win for Trump and the GOP. The Senate amendment includes raising the debt ceiling in the key...
House Republicans are still divided after proceedings ground to a halt on Tuesday over a push by a small group of GOP lawmakers to block Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from changing chamber procedures. Nine House Republicans joined Democrats in blocking a normally sleepy procedural vote, known as a ‘rule vote,’ from passing on Tuesday afternoon. It came after House leaders tucked an unrelated provision into the measure that would have stopped Rep. Anna Paulina Luna,...
