Trade War Updates, Trump & Apple, Target Earnings & Buy This Chip Stock

On today’s episode of Free Lunch here at Zacks, Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains discusses the latest U.S. and China trade war news, as well as President Trump’s Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) factory trip. We also dive into some retail earnings, including Target (NYSE:TGT) , before we close with a look at why Applied Materials (NYSE:M) is a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock right now.

All three major U.S. indexes fell Thursday amid setbacks on the U.S.-China trade war front, which saw President Trump criticize China’s efforts to reach a so-called phase-one trade deal. The Wall Street Journal then reported that Chinese officials have invited U.S. trade negotiators to Beijing.

The uncertainty might mean that new, more consumer-facing tariffs will be rolled out on December 15. This is why Trump’s Wednesday visit to Apple’s Austin, Texas plant with CEO Tim Cook is so important. The question now is what will happen to the iPhone on the tariff front.

In earnings news, Target stock soared after it continued to impress Wall Street. TGT, like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and others, has proven that it is more than ready to fight off Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) encroachment. Meanwhile, Macy’s (NYSE:M) was not as lucky, as the department store struggles alongside Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) and JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) .

The episode then ends with why Applied Materials stock looks strong right now amid a larger semiconductor industry comeback that includes Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) , Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) , and others.

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