The daily business briefing: February 3, 2017

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Snapchat parent to raise $3 billion in year's first big tech IPO
2. The economy added 227,000 jobs in January, more than expected
3. Trump expected to target financial regulations with new orders
4. Nordstrom drops Ivanka Trump's clothing line
5. Uber chief drops out of Trump advisory council

published 3 February 2017

1. Snapchat parent to raise $3 billion in year's first big tech IPO

Snapchat's parent company, Snap, filed the paperwork for its initial public offering of stock, which aims to raise $3 billion. Snap's offering will be the first major tech IPO this year, and the biggest one since Facebook. Snap said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has 158 million daily users. Still, it lost $514.6 million in 2016, up from a loss of $373 million a year earlier. Snap is positioning itself as a tech company and an innovator in media and entertainment, increasing its allure. "Investors will flock to the IPO," said Sara Terheggen, a corporate partner at Silicon Valley law firm Morrison & Foerster.

The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in January, the biggest increase in four months of solid gains. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast 197,000 new jobs, on average. The unemployment rate inched up from 4.7 percent to 4.8 percent as more people entered the workforce. Average wages rose by 0.1 percent to $26 an hour, resulting in a slightly lower than expeted 2.5 percent increase over 12 months, the weakest such gains since August. The first monthly jobs report since President Trump took office showed that his presidency is beginning with a solid and improving employment market. Trump has promised to create another 25 million jobs over the coming decade.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

President Trump on Friday is expected to sign executive actions rolling back Obama-era regulations on the financial industry, and calling for a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Trump will ditch a regulation adopted by former President Barack Obama's imposing more strict requirements on retirement account advisers to work in their clients' best interests. That regulation has been sharply criticized by the industry. A White House official said that the orders would mark the latest demonstration of Trump's commitment to delivering on his campaign promise to cut federal regulations on business.

Nordstrom is dropping Ivanka Trump's fashion line due to poor sales, the department store chain said Thursday. Nordstrom said it carries thousands of brands and cuts 10 percent a year. "In this case, based on the brand's performance, we've decided not to buy it for this season," Nordstrom said in a statement. Ivanka Trump representatives said, however, that Nordstrom had already bought some clothes for the spring season. Nordstrom's decision to drop the brand came after the #GrabYourWallet campaign urged shoppers to boycott products tied to President Trump or his family, saying the Trump businesses created conflicts for the Trump administration.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said Thursday that he was leaving President Trump's business advisory council over Trump's executive order on immigration. "The executive order is hurting many people in communities all across America," Kalanick said. "Families are being separated, people are stranded overseas and there's a growing fear the U.S. is no longer a place that welcomes immigrants." Uber has lost 200,000 customers since the start of a #DeleteUber boycott effort over Kalanick's participation in the council and his company's decision to continue providing rides at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after taxi drivers declared a strike to protest the order, which temporarily blocks travel from seven Muslim-majority nations where terrorists have found refuge. Kalanick said his agreement to join Trump's council was never meant to be an endorsement.

Explore More

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.