The daily business briefing: February 6, 2019

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Snap user numbers beat expectations
2. Trump administration sends top officials to China for trade talks
3. U.S. stock futures mixed after Trump's State of the Union address
4. GAO: Trump's first 4 visits to Mar-a-Lago cost $13.6 million
5. Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts is leaving

published 6 February 2019

1. Snap user numbers beat expectations

Snap shares soared by more than 20 percent on Tuesday after the company reported that it would hold onto its 186 million users this quarter, easing fears that it would lose customers to Facebook's Instagram app. Analysts had expected Snapchat to lose more than 1 million users in the quarter. Snapchat, a photo-messaging app known for its disappearing messages, has struggled since the company went public in March 2017, partly due to Instagram's success replicating some of its most popular features.

The Trump administration is sending U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to China next week for another round of trade talks, a senior administration official said Tuesday. The trip comes ahead of a March 1 deadline to reach an accord before the end of a truce on tit-for-tat tariffs between the world's two biggest economies. President Trump said last week that he hoped to finalize a deal soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping, although a senior official said Tuesday that Trump hadn't formally committed to a meeting. That step would come once the talks were nearly finished, trade experts said.

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.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower early Wednesday after President Trump delivered his second State of the Union address and reiterated his vow to build a border wall that was the sticking point blamed for the 35-day partial government shutdown in December and January. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the broader S&P 500 inched down by less than 0.1 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 edged slightly higher ahead of the start of the day's trading after being down earlier. Investors are continuing to react to more corporate earnings reports. Disney shares rose by 0.9 percent after the entertainment giant reported better-than-expected holiday earnings, and Electronic Arts shares plunged by more than 16 percent after it fell short of holiday-season sales predictions.

President Trump's first four visits to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach after his inauguration cost taxpayers $13.6 million, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Tuesday. About $10.6 million of that money, which was spent between February and March 2017, went to "operating costs of government aircraft and boats," the report said. Another $3 million was spent on "temporary duty costs of government personnel," including their "transportation, lodging, and meals and incidental expenses." About $60,000 was paid directly to Trump's private club. So far, Trump has made a total of 19 trips to Mar-a-Lago during his presidency, spending 51 nights there. The Washington Post noted that, assuming similar costs for those trips, Trump's travel to Palm Beach has cost more than $64 million.

Angela Ahrendts is leaving Apple after less than six years as retail chief, following a drop in iPhone sales. Ahrendts moved to Apple in 2013 after serving as Burberry chief executive in what was seen as a sign of Apple's shift toward becoming more of a luxury retail brand. "The last five years have been the most stimulating, challenging, and fulfilling of my career," Ahrendts said in a statement in Apple's news release. "Through the teams' collective efforts, Retail has never been stronger or better positioned to make an even greater contribution for Apple." Apple said Ahrendts was leaving for "new personal and professional pursuits," and CEO Tim Cook said she would be replaced by longtime Apple executive Deirdre O'Brien.

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.