Markets are closed in honor of Martin Luther King day, but here are some of the stories we are following.
President-elect Trump told companies they will have to shift manufacturing to the U.S. in order to do business here, in a series of comments indicating a tough posture toward U.S. trade partners. “Car companies and others, if they want to do business in our country, have to start making things here again. WIN!,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. The comments came as Trump reiterated in an interview with a German newspaper that his administration would levy a 35% import tax on autos built in Mexico for export to the U.S.
The International Monetary Fund increased its economic growth forecasts for the U.S., saying output could grow nearly a half-percentage point faster than previously thought over this year and next, thanks to Trump’s plans to cut taxes and boost infrastructure spending. That puts the U.S. economy set to expand 2.3% this year and 2.5% in 2018. The IMF cut ts forecasts for Mexico by 0.6% this year to 1.7%. Mr. Trump’s pledge to revise trade terms with Mexico, which counts on sales to the U.S. for 80% of its exports, sent the peso plummeting and hit Mexican stocks and bonds.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
