1. When Trump met Theresa: President Trump is hosting his first foreign leader Friday — British Prime Minister Theresa May. They’re expected to talk about improving their trading relationship, among other topics.
They’ll hold a press conference at 1 p.m. ET. Currency traders will be among those watching closely — the pound has fallen sharply against the dollar since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, and it remains volatile.
Trump may talk trade but a deal with the U.K. will take years to conclude. The U.K. is not allowed to begin formally negotiating its own trade deals while it’s still a member of the EU, an obligation Britain will respect, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said Friday.
In the meantime, Trump has been alienating other trading partners, in particular Mexico. His administration began outlining options yesterday for how to finance a border wall with Mexico. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto responded by canceling a meeting with Trump set for next week.
2. U.S. growth slowdown?: New numbers set to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday are expected to show the U.S. economy cooled off in the fourth quarter.
Economists expect GDP grew by just over 2% in the final three months of 2016, following strong growth of 3.5% in the third quarter.
3. Earnings: American Airlines, Chevron and Honeywell are some of the big companies due to release earnings before the open. Investors will be looking out for any comments they make on Trump’s trade and economic agenda.
Meanwhile, shares in UBS are declining in Europe after the bank reported fourth-quarter results.
And Starbucks and Alphabet stock are down in extended trading after the companies released earnings on Thursday evening.
Google’s parent company Alphabet reported it lost nearly $1.1 billion from its moonshot projects in the fourth quarter of 2016.
4. Global market overview: U.S. stocks hit new records on Thursday but not all the indexes were able to hold onto their gains.
The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day at its highest ever closing level. But the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dipped back down a bit.
U.S. stock futures are currently holding steady.
European markets are mostly declining in early trading. Most Asian markets ended the day with small gains.
5. Coming this week:
Friday – First reading of fourth-quarter U.S. GDP