Market Highlights in January 2016
- The U.S. Department of Labor revises up a number of third quarter economic statistics from the previous month, including raising annual productivity growth from 1.6 percent to 2.2 percent and annualized GDP growth from 1.5 percent to 2.1 percent.
- Following the birth of their first child, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife announce a plan to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares to charity during their lives. At the time of the announcement, the shares were worth over $40B, making it one of the largest charitable pledges in history.
- Chemical industry giants Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont agree on a $130B merger. One of the most significant aspects of the merger is the age of the companies; Dow Chemical is nearly 120 years old, while DuPont is over 210 years old—one of America’s oldest companies.
- Finland’s government starts a proposal to replace its current welfare system with a government-provided monthly income of €800 (around $10,000 annually) for every adult citizen. Despite being untaxed, the guaranteed income system is projected to improve the Finnish government’s budget.
- American pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. makes plans to acquire Irish competitor Allergan, Inc. and move its corporate headquarters to Ireland. Pfizer is using the move to take advantage of Ireland’s low-tax environment and has become one of the largest U.S. companies to emigrate using a
“corporate inversion.” - A report from Pew Research Center reveals that the U.S. middle class no longer represents the majority of the country, comprising just under 50 percent of the adult population. The report shows that the middle class has been steadily shrinking since it included 61 percent of people in the 1970s.
- An early MasterCard SpendingPulse™ report shows that holiday retail sales (sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas) rose 7.9 percent from the same time last year. Online sales continued to become increasingly important to retailers, growing 20 percent since last year.
