Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
EU leaders discuss stemming the influx of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East. The meeting in Malta comes a day after Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni reached a deal with Libya to step up cooperation in fighting migrant trafficking and stopping people from setting out from Libyan shores. In 2016, more than 270,000 migrants arrived in Europe by sea.
Donald Trump meets an unhappy group of CEOs. Having flexed his muscles by putting together a council of corporate chiefs, the US president now has to meet with high-profile critics of his immigration policy. Tesla’s Elon Musk has promised to hold Trump’s feet to the fire; Uber’s Travis Kalanick resigned from the panel yesterday.
The US jobs report. The economy is expected to have added about 175,000 jobs in January; unemployment should stay at 4.7%. A big question is whether hourly wages will keep rising, after starting to spike nicely at the end of 2016.
The Dodd-Frank law is on the chopping block. Donald Trump plans to sign an executive action to scale back the 2010 financial-regulation law (paywall), put in place to make banks more accountable and transparent after the financial crisis. The White House’s economic advisor, Gary Cohn, called the law a “burden” for banks.
While you were sleeping
The US defense chief warned North Korea… James Mattis said in Seoul that if North Korea used nuclear weapons, the US response would be “effective and overwhelming.” North Korea’s Central News Agency said Friday that the US and South Korea’s development of the THAAD missile system was pushing the Korean peninsula to the “brink of nuclear war.”
…And reassured Japan. Mattis, who flew on to Tokyo to meet prime minister Shinzo Abe after leaving Seoul, said that the US was completely committed to its mutual defense treaty with Japan, and will remain so “10 years from now.” The reason? The threat from North Korea.
Snap finally filed its IPO. The parent company of Snapchat aims to raise $3 billion through the listing. The filing revealed that the five-year-old company lost $514 million in 2016, has about $1 billion in its piggy bank—but spends far more than it makes—and nearly 90% of its revenue comes from the US. We also found out that Evan Spiegel makes twice as much as his co-founder Bobby Murphy.
iPhones will soon be made in Bangalore. An Indian minister said Apple would partner with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron to assemble the smartphones for the domestic market, with production starting by the end of April. He gave no update on Apple’s many demands, including a 15-year “tax holiday.”
US demand for SUVs gave Honda a lift. The Japanese automaker reaped the results of solid US and China sales, a cost-cutting program, and a weaker yen, posting a 36% rise in profit (paywall) from a year earlier for the quarter ending December. Honda has seven plants in the US, but, like all foreign carmakers, is under pressure to increase US commitments—it currently makes cars in Mexico and Canada for export to the US.
Quartz obsession interlude
Michael Coren explains how the US is about to exclude the next generation of immigrant entrepreneurs: “People born outside the country have founded more than half of America’s private startups valued at $1 billion or more… Once companies with immigrants in key management or product roles are included, the share grows to 70% of so-called unicorns.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Being a Trump “adviser” is a fool’s game. The only people the US president trusts are his daughter and son-in-law.
Most investors don’t mind non-voting stock. They’ve gotten used to the idea, and there’s little difference between having one vote per share and none.
Nintendo’s new app is a dangerous gateway to gambling. Japanese gacha games tap into the same neural pathways that casinos exploit.
Surprising discoveries
Tesco is rationing lettuces. A iceberg-lettuce shortage in Spain means people are limited to three per purchase at the UK’s biggest supermarket.
Pieces of a lost continent lie hidden beneath the Indian Ocean. Three-billion-year-old geological fragments were found under the island of Mauritius.
Michael Jackson is worth more than ever. The pop icon’s trust is valued at more than $1 billion, and the IRS wants a cut.
Scientists have used CRISPR to create disease-resistant cattle. The gene-editing technique was used to make the cows impervious to tuberculosis.
A Swiss man’s tattooed back is destined for an art collection. Tim Steiner’s body art was purchased in 2008 and will be framed and displayed after its human canvas dies.
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