The daily business briefing: November 22, 2016

Donald Trump and Nigel Farage in Mississippi

(Image credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

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1. Markets close at record highs
2. Trump vows to scrap Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on first day in office
3. Argentina denies Trump sought business favors in call
4. Tyson Foods stock plunges after CEO announces departure
5. Trump suggests U.K. make Brexit champion Farage ambassador to U.S.

published 22 November 2016

1. Markets close at record highs

All three of the main U.S. stock indexes extended a post-election rally to close at record highs on Monday, the first time that has happened since summer. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47 percent, the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.89 percent, and the S&P 500 Index advanced 0.75 percent, all setting intraday and closing records. Stock futures gained overnight, pointing to fresh records on Tuesday. The surge followed a rise in oil prices as OPEC appeared to near a deal to lower production. "I don't know if it will happen, but the market certainly hopes that it will," Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth, told CNBC about the pending deal. The markets also saw a jump in technology, led by Facebook.

President-elect Donald Trump released a video Monday listing six things he would do on his first day in office in January "to restore our laws and bring back our jobs." Trump said the U.S. would quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, a 12-nation pact he called a "potential disaster for our country." He also promised executive actions canceling "job-killing" restrictions on "shale energy" (i.e. fracking) and "clean coal," reducing federal regulations, investigating visa abuses that "undercut the American worker," improving cybersecurity, and imposing restrictions on lobbying by former government officials. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday that he was "a bit disappointed" about Trump's decision to scrap the TPP trade deal.

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Both President-elect Donald Trump and the government of Argentina on Monday denied a report that when Argentine President Mauricio Macri called to congratulate Trump on his election, Trump asked for help getting permits for a stalled office-building project in Buenos Aires. The report came from Jorge Lanata, a prominent journalist at one of Argentina's most prestigious daily newspapers, La Nacion. "It wasn't just a geopolitical chat," Lanata said in a TV appearance. The report surfaced after numerous critics called for clearer separation from Trump's duties as incoming president and his business interests. Trump has said his children will handle his companies independent of him, but The Wall Street Journal editorial page has urged him to liquidate his holdings.

Tyson Foods shares fell by more than 14 percent on Monday after the company forecast lower-than-expected 2017 profit, and announced that Chief Executive Donnie Smith planned to step down on Dec. 31. His departure surprised some on Wall Street, where he was regarded as a successful CEO. Tyson, the nation's largest meat processor, said that President Tom Hayes would replace Smith, who has been in the job for seven years. The news came as the company reported quarterly earnings that fell short of expectations. Tyson shares had risen 26 percent on the year as of Friday.

President-elect Donald Trump suggested that the British government should appoint Nigel Farage, a leading Brexit proponent who made a campaign appearance backing Trump, as the country's ambassador to the U.S. Trump's message, which he posted on Twitter, came as Prime Minister Theresa May's government was reaching out to him to reaffirm the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K. It was also a departure from diplomatic protocol for Trump to publicly suggest that Britain appoint one of his allies as its U.S. envoy, especially since Farage is a right-wing rival to May's Conservative Party. May's office rejected Trump's suggestion, saying the job was already filled.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.