The daily business briefing: June 25, 2019

1. Trump: Fed resisting call for rate cut like 'stubborn child'

President Trump resumed his criticism of the Federal Reserve on Monday, tweeting that the central bank acted "like a stubborn child" when it declined to raise interest rates last week. Trump initially shrugged off the Fed's decision after its two-day meeting, saying you "can't win them all." Trump said Monday that if the Fed had pumped more money into the economy by trimming rates instead of hiking them last year growth would have been 4 percent, 5 percent, or more. That, he added, would have led to the Dow being "thousands of points higher." The economy wound up growing by 2.9 percent in 2018. Fed officials have said recently that persistent low inflation and headwinds from trade tensions could lead them to reduce rates soon, and many analysts expect a cut at the Fed's July meeting.

MarketWatch

2. McDonald's gains market share after switch to fresh beef

McDonald's on Monday reported that it gained burger market share in the first quarter for the first time in five years thanks partly to increased sales since it launched fresh beef in its Quarter Pounder in May 2018. The nationwide rollout (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories) of fresh beef took the burger giant more than four years, and cost the chain's suppliers more than $60 million. McDonald's has been battling increasingly tough competition from rivals such as Wendy's, which has long boasted that it never uses frozen beef patties. McDonald's sold 40 million more Quarter Pounders in the first quarter of 2019 than in the same period last year. "I think it's a better product, and I think consumers have noticed," said Mark Kalinowski, CEO of Kalinowski Equity Research.

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CNBC

3. WarnerMedia picks Ann Sarnoff as new Warner Bros. chief

WarnerMedia said Monday it had named Ann Sarnoff as the new CEO of Warner Bros., following the March resignation of Kevin Tsujihara following a report he tried to get roles for an actress with whom he had an extramarital affair. Sarnoff, currently president of BBC Studios America, will be the first woman to run the 96-year-old Hollywood studio behind such hits as Wonder Woman, Friends, and the Harry Potter franchise. "I want to take what is a very successful legacy and history and make it even stronger going forward," she said. WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said Sarnoff "has shown the ability to innovate and grow revenues and has embraced the evolution taking place in our industry."

Reuters

4. Stock futures fall ahead of Fed leaders' comments

U.S. stock index futures edged lower early Tuesday as investors awaited comments and possible hints of interest-rate plans from several Fed policy makers, including Chair Jerome Powell, later in the day. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 0.1 percent, while those of the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped by 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. The Fed indicated at the close of its two-day meeting last week that it was holding interest rates steady despite persistently low inflation and the negative impact on the economy from trade tensions. The central bank indicated that no rate cuts were planned this year, although markets expect three, the first in late July.

CNBC

5. FedEx sues government over requirement to help enforce Huawei ban

FedEx said Monday it had filed a lawsuit against the federal government for requiring it to help enforce government export bans. The court case came after FedEx faced a backlash from China over the company's mishandling of a small number of deliveries for Chinese tech giant Huawei, as well as the package delivery company's failure to deliver a Huawei smartphone sent from the U.K. to the U.S. The Trump administration blacklisted Huawei over concerns that its telecommunications gear and smartphones could be used to spy for Beijing, a charge the company denies. FedEx said the regulations "essentially deputize FedEx to police the contents of millions of packages it ships daily even though doing so is a virtually impossible task." A Commerce Department spokesperson said Tuesday the government looks forward to "defending Commerce's role in protecting U.S. national security."

CNN