On The Money: US farm export prices fall at steep rate | Dems say they will sue to keep Collins on ballot | Turkey threatens boycott of US electronics

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to On The Money, where we’re trying to learn a few things from Apple when it comes to lowering our tax bill. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

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THE BIG DEAL–US crop export prices fall at steepest rate since 2011: U.S. agricultural export prices fell by 5.3 percent in July as retaliatory tariffs on American crops kicked into effect, according to Labor Department data released Tuesday

Prices for U.S. crops sold abroad fell last month at the fastest rate since October 2011, led by a 14.1 percent decrease in soybean prices. Export prices for corn, nuts, wheat and fruits also fell in July, likely due to tariffs imposed by nations including China, Canada and Mexico, as well as the European Union.

Export prices for all U.S. goods minus agriculture stayed even in July as falling prices for non-farm industrial supplies, materials and autos were offset by rising costs for nonagricultural foods. Import prices also stayed even in July after falling 0.1 percent in June.

Major U.S. trading partners responded last month to President Trump’s tariffs on imported steel, aluminum and Chinese goods with duties on major American food exports. Those tariffs have raised production costs for U.S. farmers already struggling to compensate for sinking export prices. I’ll tell you more about the numbers here.

LEADING THE DAY

Dems say they’ll sue to keep Collins on ballot: Democrats are threatening to take the GOP to court to keep Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who’s been charged with insider trading, on the November ballot.

New York Democrats believe they have a better shot of flipping the red, Buffalo-area seat if the embattled congressman’s name stays on the ballot, and they want to keep Republicans from replacing him with a potentially less toxic candidate.

“Our contention and a lot of people’s contention is this is fraudulent to get him off the ballot,” Erie County Democratic Party Chairman Jeremy Zellner told The Hill on Tuesday. “It is too late to get him off the ballot.”

Federal officials last week arrested and charged Collins with securities fraud related to his involvement with an Australian pharmaceuticals company, giving Democrats hope they could win a GOP-held seat that wasn’t even on campaign officials’ radar days ago.

Scott Wong has the latest on Collins.

Turkey plans boycott of US electronics: Turkey on Tuesday announced that it will boycott American electronic devices amid tensions with Washington that have led to a historic Turkish currency crisis.

The Associated Press reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not clarify how the boycott would be enforced in an announcement of the measure.

“We will impose a boycott on U.S. electronic products. If they have iPhones, there is Samsung on the other side, and we have our own Vestel here,” he said in a speech to members of his AK Party, referring to a Turkish electronics firm, Reuters reported.

Vestel’s shares rose 5 percent after Erdogan’s speech, according to Reuters.

Royal Bank of Scotland pays $4.9 billion for crisis-era misconduct: From Reuters: “Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) will pay $4.9 billion to settle U.S. claims that it misled investors on residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2008, Justice Department said on Tuesday.

“The Justice Department said the penalty is the largest-ever imposed on a bank for misconduct leading up to the financial crisis. The bank announced in May that it had reached the settlement in principle.

“The government alleges RBS misled investors in underwriting and issuing residential mortgage-backed securities, understating the risks behind many of the loans and providing inaccurate data.”

MARKET CHECK: From CNBC: “Stocks rose on Tuesday as a rebound in the Turkish lira from an all-time low lifted investor sentiment.

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 112.22 points to close at 25,299.92, while the S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent to 2,839.96. Both indexes also snapped four-day losing streaks. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7 percent, closing at 7,870.89.

“Tech shares contributed to the gains as Apple and Amazon rose 0.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, bank stocks rose as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley all closed more than 1 percent higher. The lira rose about 8 percent to 6.36 after falling to a record-low 7.24 per dollar on Monday.”

GOOD TO KNOW 

• Sharp declines in the Turkish lira, Indian rupee and other currencies have raised the prospect of a self-reinforcing flight from riskier emerging markets, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is investing $375 million in Oscar Health, a startup health insurance company seeking to redefine the industry by using technology and data.
• Financial technology companies that lend online are striking a cautious note about the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s plan to offer them special federal charters because of concerns over legal challenges and requirements, according to Reuters.
• CNN explores how a dangerous mix of economic and political forces has triggered a crisis in Turkey and other emerging markets.
• Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price Group Inc., two of the largest investors in Tesla Inc., announced that they each cut their stakes in the electric automaker by more than 20 percent, according to Bloomberg.
  

ODDS AND ENDS

• Apple argued that buildings it owned around Cupertino, Calif., where it is headquartered, were only worth $200 instead of the $1 billion tax assessors deemed in 2015, according to appeals reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.
• Con artists are zeroing in on the retirement savings and other assets of an aging population, some of whom might already be suffering from cognitive decline, according to Marketplace.
• Often overlooked office fax machines pose a huge vulnerability to the cybersecurity of businesses and other organizations, according to a new study.
• Tesla’s board named a special committee of three directors on Tuesday to evaluate possibly taking the electric carmaker private, although it said it had yet to see a firm offer from the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk.