F-35

Having drawn the ire of the mainstream press for his extensive use of Twitter in announcing major developments and policy shifts, President-elect Donald Trump will not end the "onslaught" of posts on Twitter that fed his unconventional campaign, even after taking on the formalized duties of the Oval Office later this month, as Bloomberg notes following an announcement by incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer who said he expects Trump "will boldly use" Twitter to make major policy announcements.

As president-elect Trump plays Boeing and Lockheed off against each other, China flexed its military muscles once again - after sending its aircraft carrier Liaoning into the western Pacific - by testing the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, state media reported on Monday, as it tries to end the West’s monopoly on the world’s most advanced warplanes.

It appears the so-called 'Twitter-spanking' approach of president-elect Trump is working. First Carrier, then Ford, and now, following his earlier jab at Lockheed's F-35 costs by asking Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson has reportedly given Trump her "personal commitment" to "aggressively" drive down costs of the F-35 program. The question is what was the quid-pro-quo in this instance?

Following this tweet from Trump...

European stocks halted two days of declines, with the Stoxx 600 fractionally in the green and Italy’s bonds climbing after Monte Paschi requested a bailout and Italy pledged to provide support for its other ailing lenders. S&P futures were little changed among extremely thin volumes while Chinese stocks dropped amid concerns on higher borrowing costs. Oil slid, while gold advanced; bitcoin soared to multi-year highs, rising above $900.

Another day, another market-moving tweet from Donald Trump.

Moments ago, the president-elect, following up on his recent spat with Lockheed over the F-35, which one week ago Trump said its "program and cost is out of control”, continued his crusade on over-budget government programs, when he tweeted that "based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!"