http://www.newsweek.com/carl-icahn-sold-millions-steel-stock-donald-trump-tariff-announcement-829029
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/trump-pal-sold-steel-related-stock-days-before-tariff-news.html
Uh oh.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/trump-pal-sold-steel-related-stock-days-before-tariff-news.html
A billionaire investor and former presidential adviser unloaded nearly $31.3 million in a steel-related stock company just days before President Donald Trump announced he would impose steep tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum—news that sent stock markets tumbling around the world.
Between February 12 and February 22, three of Carl Icahn's companies happened to place four sell orders amounting to $31,277,063.43, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The filing was first reported by the liberal news site ThinkProgress.
At the time, Icahn owned more than 5 percent of Manitowoc Company Inc.'s shares. Manitowoc Company Inc. is a "leading global manufacturer of cranes and lifting solutions" based out of Wisconsin, according to its website. Manitowac Cranes describes itself as one of the "largest providers of lifting equipment for the global construction industry."
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Trump didn't announce his plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum products until Thursday, one week after Icahn's final transaction.
That was great timing for Icahn, but it caught the markets off guard. The announcement sent the stock market sliding. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 400 points, a 1.7 percent drop, by the closing bell on Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and the NASDAQ Composite were also down about 1.3 percent.
icahn
Carl Icahn unloaded nearly $3.3 million worth of stocks in a company largely dependent on the price of steel just days before President Donald Trump announced his administration would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
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Manitowoc Co.'s stock also took a beating, dropping 6 percent on Thursday, according to Reuters, which lumped the company in with Caterpillar Inc. and Boeing as "major consumers of steel."
On February 16, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross issued a statement that he had suggested Trump consider several recommendations regarding steel imports, including a 24 percent global tariff. That statement, however, came four days after Icahn began selling off the Manitowoc stock.
On February 23, a day after Icahn's final sales, Bloomberg reported the president had "told confidants" of his plan to impose steep steel tariffs. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Icahn said he hasn't "had much interaction with [Trump] at all in the last four or five months."
Uh oh.