Good morning and we start today with the controversial decision by Meta to reinstate Donald Trump to Facebook and Instagram “in the coming weeks”.
The announcement, made by former British deputy prime minister and president of global affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg, comes as the former US president prepares for a third run at the White House.
The social media company said it had put “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offences” after Trump’s two year absence from its platforms following his praise for his supporters who stormed the US Capitol in 2021.
Trump, who created Truth Social after he was booted off the popular social media platforms, said a sitting president or “anybody else who is not deserving of retribution” should never again be removed from a platform in a statement on his own social media site.
But it is unclear when the former president will return to Facebook or Instagram. He has not yet used his Twitter account despite being reinstated on that platform in November, following its takeover by Elon Musk.
Trump’s use of social media helped him get elected in 2016 and is expected to be a core part of his re-election efforts. Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign spokesman, told Fox News Digital last week that Facebook was “an important tool” for the new run at the White House.
The former president has 57mn followers on Facebook and Instagram even though he cannot post, and another 88mn on Twitter.
Five more stories in the news
1. Lockheed ready with F-16s After yesterday’s pledge by Germany and the US to send new tanks to Ukraine, talk today turns to fighter jets. The Financial Times reports that Lockheed Martin, the largest US defence contractor, stands ready to meet demand for its F-16 aircraft as some of Ukraine’s closest European allies revive efforts to provide fighter jets to Kyiv.
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Opinion: Will Leopard 2 tanks actually boost Ukraine’s chances? It depends on training and the flow of western arms and ammunition, writes Franz-Stefan Gady of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Thanks to all our readers who voted in yesterday’s poll and emailed their views on the current conflict. Almost four-fifths of you thought the Biden administration was right to send more tanks to Ukraine.
2. Elon Musk seeks to dispel fears about slowing Tesla demand Upbeat comments from Tesla chief executive Elon Musk helped send shares in the electric-car maker higher yesterday after it released its latest earnings report. He said Tesla was currently receiving orders that were “almost twice the rate of production”. Investors and analysts had expressed concerns about falling demand for the EVs during the final quarter of last year.
3. Morgan Stanley hits bankers with $1mn penalties Morgan Stanley has hit bankers with financial penalties running up to more than $1mn per employee for conducting official business on WhatsApp and other messaging platforms. The penalties are based on a points system that takes into account factors including the number of messages sent, the banker’s seniority, and whether they received previous warnings.
4. EY Germany to axe hundreds of jobs The job cuts at the Big Four firm are an attempt to improve profitability after the damage caused by the Wirecard scandal. Most of the job cuts are aimed at reducing back-office costs at the German business, four people familiar with the matter told the FT.
5. Apollo in talks over buyout of LatAm telecom Millicom Shares in Millicom International Cellular, which operates under the Tigo brand and serves 50mn customers in Latin America, jumped by 23 per cent yesterday after the FT reported that buyout group Apollo Global Management and former SoftBank executive Marcelo Claure are in talks about a takeover.
The day ahead
Market update Futures contracts are predicting a higher open on Wall Street this morning for equity indices the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. Stocks pared early losses yesterday to close fractionally lower.
Economic data Economists expect the pace of growth in the US economy to have slowed in the final quarter of last year, following the Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to raise borrowing costs. The commerce department will release figures later today. Here is a preview.
Corporate results Credit card group Mastercard reports before the bell today while rival Visa reports after the market closes. Other companies reporting today include Blackstone, Northrop Grumman and Intel.
Southwest Airlines The airline company is likely to face difficult questions about the operational meltdown over the holiday period when it releases fourth-quarter results. Yesterday, the US Department of Transportation launched an investigation into whether Southwest Airlines executives engaged in “unrealistic scheduling” of flights following the cancellation of thousands of flights.
Joe Biden The US president will deliver a speech on the economy from Springfield, Virginia, where he is expected to criticise the economic plans of newly-powerful House Republicans.
What else we’re reading
Franklin Templeton tries to reinvent itself In 2020, Jenny Johnson, the fourth member of her family to run the California-based fund, had taken the reins of a business regarded as outdated and stodgy. Now, she is pushing the group quickly into new asset classes and technology to prove that an old-school, family-run stockpicker can still prove itself against industry behemoths such as BlackRock and State Street.
How will Google solve its AI conundrum? Microsoft threw down a direct challenge to the search giant with its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI this week. In the AI arms race, Google should be well-positioned, but with politicians and regulators breathing down its neck — and a hugely profitable business model to defend — the company may be hesitant to wield many of the weapons at its disposal.
Explainer: How Biden’s climate law provokes Europe The US president’s $369bn Inflation Reduction Act has delivered a big green bonus for climate experts and US business while infuriating Europe. EU governments have launched a litany of complaints, claiming it violates trade rules and distorts competition. Here’s why companies are excited — and America’s trading partners less so.
Big Oil profits set to slow Oil companies are forecast to earn tens of billions of dollars in fourth-quarter profits when they start reporting earnings this week, but the outlook is dimmer for 2023: early projections have the five western supermajors collectively earning $150bn, down from an estimated $200bn haul last year. Still, the 2023 forecast, if it pans out, would be the second-highest earnings ever recorded.
Who will be the next governor of the Bank of Japan? With less than three months until Haruhiko Kuroda steps down after a decade at the top of Japan’s central bank it is still unclear who will replace him. There is a shortlist of candidates, but a lack of enthusiasm to replace the outgoing governor as the country emerges from three decades of low inflation. “There is no margin for error,” said one observer of the process.
Take a break from the news
Through the sensual and alluring medium of paint, women artists are delivering complex, individual narratives in a way that somehow also feels universal. HTSI explores how female artists are reinventing the nude.
Source: Financial Times
