Maersk Falls on Report of Biden Executive Order Against Transport Industry
Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Maersk (CSE:MAERSKa) was down almost 2% in the Danish market on a report that the Biden administration will push regulators to confront consolidation and perceived anticompetitive pricing in the ocean shipping and railroad industries.
The Biden administration believes the concentrated nature of the ocean shipping trade and the U.S. freight rail business has reduced competition and led to higher pricing that has made it expensive for American companies to get goods to market.
According to The Wall Street Journal, an executive order will be issued this week to the Federal Maritime Commission and Surface Transportation Board to stop the trend and adopt rules to discourage noncompete agreements.
It's the latest high-profile action by the Democratic president, who has stacked his administration with advisers skeptical of corporate power.
The news broke too early in the day for it to have an immediate effect on traded railroad stocks such as CSX (NASDAQ:CSX), Canadian Pacific Railway (NYSE:CP) and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC). The order comes at a time when the railroad industry is facing further consolidation, with CPR and Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI) locked in a takeover battle for Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU).
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Maersk Falls on Report of Biden Executive Order Against Transport Industry
