Trump Trade: Trump Media considers developing crypto payment service

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President-elect Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly:

CRYPTO PAYMENT SERVICE: Trump’s social media company is considering developing a cryptocurrency payment service, the latest sign of the president-elect’s embrace of the crypto industry, The New York Times’ Matthew Goldstein, David Yaffe-Bellany and Emily Flitter report, citing a trademark application filed this week. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) filed an application on Monday for a service called TruthFi, which it described as a platform for crypto payments, financial custody services and trading in digital assets.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: UBS told investors in a research note on Friday that the firm believes the commercial real estate market is poised to benefit from a number of policies including keeping 1031 exchanges in place, maintaining the 199A pass-through exemption and accelerated depreciation and shelving any attempts at national rent control. In addition, what is likely to be a lighter regulatory approach to the banking sector could be a positive for commercial real estate lending. Further, the firm believes there will be a push to lower the capital gains rate. Publicly traded commercial real estate companies include Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), Boston Properties (BXP), SL Green (SLG), Hudson Pacific Properties (HPP), Kilroy Realty (KRC), Highwoods Properties (HIW), and Cousins Properties (CUZ).

FDA: Johns Hopkins surgeon and writer Martin Makary is expected to be selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the U.S. FDA, Reuters’ Stephanie Kelly and Nathan Layne report, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Makary raised concerns about a number of public health issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, touting the protection from natural immunity and opposing Covid vaccine mandates. As FDA commissioner, Makary would report to the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Reuters says, adding that Trump has nominated noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services. Names in the vaccine space include Moderna (MRNA), BioNTech (BNTX), Pfizer (PFE), Novavax (NVAX) and GSK (GSK).

STOCK RATING, TARGET CHANGES:

• Leerink upgraded AbbVie (ABBV) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $206 price target. The firm recommends taking advantage of the emraclidine setback and election-related downdraft to purchase shares, and tells investors in a research note that while its financial projections are roughly in line with consensus, Leerink sees the potential for continued strong execution to drive upside.
• Needham initiated coverage of Steven Madden (SHOO) with a Hold rating and no price target. The firm is most notably concerned about the risk of potential tariffs on Chinese imports during President-Elect Trump’s second term, given that Steven Madden has the highest exposure of China-to-U.S. imports in its coverage.
• RBC Capital upgraded Flowserve (FLS) to Outperform from Sector Perform with a price target of $69, up from $57. The firm believes Flowserve’s should be a winner in Trump’s second term given its 38% exposure to oil and gas.
• Stifel upgraded Bitfarms (BITF) to Speculative Buy from Hold with a price target of $3.50, up from $2.30, after having updated estimates and adjusted target prices in the group with Bitcoin having seen “an explosive move” to close in on a “historic” $100,000 spot price following the election of pro-crypto candidate Donald Trump.
• JPMorgan downgraded PDD Holdings (PDD) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $105, down from $170. The firm suggests investors revisit the stock when the Trump Administration announces tariff policy against Chinese products and that PDD’s Q4 report in March shows stabilized profits and margins.

OTHER NEWS:

• Bitcoin came close to closing above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president spurred expectations that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
• TD Cowen told investors in a research note that the list of candidates President Trump is considering for Treasury Secretary and top economic jobs includes executives who have significant stock holdings and the firm’s view remains that these executives would need to divest the stock and put the proceeds into mutual funds and Treasury securities under federal ethics laws. However, these rules apply to executive branch employees and Donald Trump as President is not an employee, which is “why none of the ethics rules apply to him.” The firm adds: “Most Presidents still abide by the same rules, but it is not required.” TheFly notes that Trump previously said he had “no intention” of selling Trump Media shares. Trump is the largest shareholder in Trump Media with a stake that represents nearly 60% of the company’s outstanding stock.