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Good morning.
President Trump may be slow to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory, but the business community was not. The nation’s biggest business lobbying groups—the Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers—all issued statements of congratulations on Saturday. “While we respect the Trump campaign’s right to seek recounts, to call for investigation of alleged voting irregularities where evidence exists and to exhaust legal remedies, there is no indication that any of these would change the outcome,” the Roundtable said. The Chamber said it stands “ready to help break through the gridlock and help get things done through collaboration and good governance.”
You might wonder: why are these business organizations so quick to embrace a President-elect who has vowed to increase their taxes and boost regulation? The answer is partly a recognition of reality; the election is over. But it goes beyond that, as Fortune’s Geoff Colvin explains in this piece published over the weekend. Business views a Biden presidency as a not altogether bad thing.
Meanwhile, if you think it’s time to learn more about how the Biden administration will handle economic policy, you should read Nicole Goodkind’s story on his three top economic advisers. Expect these folks to play an important role in the next four years.
And finally, Anne Sraders and Lance Lambert dig into what the Biden victory might mean for another economic stimulus package, here.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Markets rise
Global markets seem chipper today, following President-elect Biden's win. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 was up 2.1% and the Hang Seng by 1.2%. European markets started the day in a similar zone, with the Stoxx 600 up 1.4% at the time of writing. U.S. futures, again, look to rise a similar amount. CNBC
SoftBank profit
SoftBank's share price is up more than 5% after the Japanese conglomerate reported a profit of $6.1 billion in the July-September quarter. In the same quarter a year ago, Masayoshi Son's behemoth lost $6.4 billion. That time round, WeWork was to blame. Now SoftBank can thank star performers such as Chinese online real-estate broker Beike Zhaofang, a Vision Fund 2 investment. Wall Street Journal
Apple and Pegatron
Apple has suspended new business with one of its biggest manufacturing partners, Pegatron, after discovering labor violations. The Taiwanese firm had apparently been misclassifying student workers and allowing them to work nights and overtime, and its employees had tried hard to cover up the violations of Apple's supplier code of conduct. Fortune
Virgin Hyperloop
Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop has completed the world's first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system. Lucky executives Josh Giegel (CTO) and Sara Luchian (director of passenger experience) whizzed through the firm's DevLoop site in Las Vegas at up to 107 miles per hour. If Hyperloop pans out, the aim is to transport people at 600 miles an hour or faster. Reuters
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Norwegian Air
Norwegian Air faces a very uncertain future after Norway ruled out a second bailout for the pandemic-stricken carrier. The airline's shares fell as much as 24% on that decision, which CEO Jacob Schram described as feeling "like a slap in the face." This year's overall decline in Norwegian's share price runs to a pretty terminal-sounding 99%. Bloomberg
WTO chief
The World Trade Organization was expected to appoint Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its next director general today, but the relevant meeting has been postponed. This may be because President Trump had not backed her candidacy, and the WTO now wants to secure the backing of President-elect Biden before moving forward. Guardian
EU and U.S.
The EU is expected to imminently hit the U.S. with fresh tariffs, in the latest round of the very long-running Airbus-Boeing subsidies dispute. But Germany is pushing for a delay now that Biden has won, and the European Commission is looking for a "reboot" of relations with the U.S. under the incoming Biden presidency, and will be angling for cooperation on things like China and COVID-19. Financial Times
Self driving
Tesla's Full Self Driving software might mislead many drivers into overestimating its capabilities, an AAA survey suggests. What Tesla offers is actually an advanced driver assistance system, not full autonomous-driving technology. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
