Good morning.
We’ll bypass the political punditry and partisan applause this morning, and just report the key economic highlights from the president’s 90-minute State of the Union speech.
“Since the election we have created 2.4 million new jobs, including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing alone. After years and years of wage stagnation, we are finally seeing rising wages. Unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low. And the African American unemployment rate stands at the lowest level ever recorded. And Hispanic American unemployment also has reached the lowest levels in history. Small business confidence is at an all-time high.”
“Since we passed tax cuts, roughly 3 million workers have already gotten tax cut bonuses—many of them thousands of dollars per worker.” Note: the fact checkers have confirmed this one, and it appears to be unprecedented in the history of tax cuts.
“In our drive to make Washington accountable, we have eliminated more regulations in our first year than any administration in history.” This one is also arguably accurate.
“We have ended the war on energy, and we have ended the war on clean coal.”
“I am asking both parties to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve.”
“The era of economic surrender is totally over. From now we expect trading relationships to be fair, and, very importantly, reciprocal.”
“One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs…one of my top priorities of the year.”
“Let’s invest in training, which we need so much.”
“Struggling communities, especially immigrant communities, will also be helped by immigration policies that focus on the best interests of American workers and American families. So tonight I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, Democrats and Republicans, to protect our citizens, of every background, color and creed.”
News below.
| Alan Murray | |
| @alansmurray | |
| alan.murray@fortune.com |
Top News
Samsung Stock Split Boosts Shares
Samsung Electronics shares popped by 4.3% on the Korea Exchange after the company announced a 50:1 stock split. Samsung's board approved the move, designed to make shareholders happy and more numerous, earlier Wednesday. Samsung, which also gave shareholders about half its free cash flow in dividends, said: "The split is…expected to add both liquidity and marketability to the company’s stock, which may contribute to enhancing corporate value in the long term." Financial Times
Blackstone Buys Thomson Reuters Data Unit Majority
Blackstone Group and a handful of co-investors—Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore's GIC Pte—are buying a majority stake in Thomson Reuters' financial and risk unit. The deal gives the business a valuation of $20 billion. Blackstone private equity chief Joe Baratta called the deal a "landmark transaction." Bloomberg
Talk of Big Correction
Julius Baer CEO Bernhard Hodler reckons there will be a big market correction this year. "Generally I think we will see sooner or later a correction—hopefully it will be like a 5%, 10%, 15% correction, another very large one, but I think that will happen sometime in 2018," he said, not sounding particularly worried about the prospect. CNBC
Xerox Independence Fades
Xerox Corp. reportedly aims to merge with a joint venture the company already has with Japan's Fujifilm. The deal would leave Xerox's U.S. shareholders with just under half of the merged company, if it goes through. Xerox shares would apparently continue to trade. Wall Street Journal
Around the Water Cooler
U.K. Wants China Free Trade Deal
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is flying off to China, says she wants a future free trade deal with the country. Negotiations cannot start until the U.K. leaves the EU, though, as EU countries can only negotiate trade deals as a bloc. In the meantime, May said, work can be done to help British companies do business in China. Channel NewsAsia
Technology's Addictive Nature
Social media age limits should be enforced, according to Jean M. Twenge, a psychology professor who is among almost 100 child health advocates calling on Facebook to discontinue its Messenger Kids product. Twenge also says smartphone manufacturers should be subject to more regulation that helps parents more effectively restrict their children's usage. Fortune
Car-Sharing Hack
Australia's largest car-sharing network, GoGet, has revealed that a hacker accessed its systems and its customers' personal data seven months ago. New South Wales Police have reportedly identified the hacker, but are still trying to figure out how the suspect broke into the systems. Interestingly, given the current focus on swift breach notifications, the company said the police told it not to notify customers of the hack until now, in order to not jeopardize the investigation. IT News
Emotional-Support Peacock
A United Airlines passenger tried to bring a peacock on board at Newark Liberty International for emotional support, but the carrier turned the bird away for size and weight reasons. "We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport,” United said in a statement. NBC News
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.
