Axios

Former Obama aides Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer discuss Trump's ABC interview with David Muir on their podcast, Pod Save America. The two go back-and-forth on whether Trump is forcing journalists to break from conventional interview techniques. One interesting snippet:

"[I] wonder if there are new rules for Trump that journalists just have to sort of think outside the box and be like well, if I didn't get to six or seven newsy topics in this interview because I was pressing him to, you know, explain what the hell he means by voter fraud that doesn't exists for 10, 15 minutes, then I'm going to do it." — Jon Favreau.

Several news outlets yesterday picked up on an SEC filing for WndrCo, the new investment group put together by former DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. The filing revealed that WndrCo had raised just shy of $600 million.

Some additional notes, after speaking to people familiar with the situation:

• This is only a first close. Expect the final number to be closer to $750 million. Original plans were to target $500 million, but commitments came in fast and furious over the past several weeks (particularly from China).
• Katzenberg is the big name, but he's only one of three partners in WndrCo. The others are Ann Daly, former president of DreamWorks Animation, and Sujay Jaswa, the former Dropbox CFO who also spent time at venture firm NEA. '
• Others involved on a full-time basis (but not listed on the Form D) include Anthony Saleh (best known as the music manager who got Nas into the VC world), ChenLi Wang (ex-head of product management at Dropbox), finance director Nilesh Vashee (ex-Virgin America/Yale Investment Office). Part-time advisors include Jason Hirschhorn and Fazal Merchant.
• The actual investment strategy has moved around a lot, which means most folks are really betting on the team more than the plan. A Fortune profile of Katzenberg from last fall suggested that WndrCo is likely to follow a flexible, model in the vein of IAC (Katzenberg began his career working for IAC's Barry Diller), and that may still be the best way to think about it.

Through a spokesperson, WndrCo declined to comment.

Trump gave another hour-long interview last night, this time with Fox News' Sean Hannity. Some highlights:

• On "Saturday Night Live": "It's a failing show; it's not funny. Alec Baldwin's a disaster. He's terrible on the show. And by the way: I don't mind some humor. But it's terrible."
• Giving a tour of the Oval: "And look at my desk: Papers! You don't see presidents with papers on that desk"
• On using Reagan's desk: "[Y]ou can pick. They have like seven desks."
• On the White House phones: "I have great phones, I have phones -- let me tell you. The technology that we have in this country is incredible. Unfortunately perhaps we don't use it.
• On the president in his lifetime he admires most: "Well, I like Reagan. I didn't like him on trade. But other than trade, I liked him very much and he was OK on trade. But not great."
• On the letter Obama left him: "What amazed me is that I was vicious to him in statements, he was vicious to me in statements, and here we are getting along, we're riding up Pennsylvania Avenue talk -- we don't even mention it. I guess that's the world of politics."
• On how this whole experience has changed him: "I don't think I've had the time to be changed because I'm cutting the prices of airplanes, I'm cutting the prices of army tanks."
• Trump's last words in the interview: "The ratings tonight are going to be through the roof."

Trump adviser Steve Bannon speaks to the New York Times and demands to be quoted. So here it is:

"The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile," Mr. Bannon said during a telephone call. "I want you to quote this," Mr. Bannon added. "The media here is the opposition party. They don't understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."

There's more:

"The elite media got it dead wrong, 100 percent dead wrong," Mr. Bannon said of the election, calling it "a humiliating defeat that they will never wash away, that will always be there."

"The mainstream media has not fired or terminated anyone associated with following our campaign," Mr. Bannon said. "Look at the Twitter feeds of those people: they were outright activists of the Clinton campaign." (He did not name specific reporters or editors.) "That's why you have no power," Mr. Bannon added. "You were humiliated."

"You're the opposition party," Mr. Bannon said. "Not the Democratic Party. You're the opposition party. The media's the opposition party."

Caterpillar released earnings Thursday, missing analysts' revenue expectations and reducing its outlook for profits in 2017. The firm's struggles call into question investor enthusiasm for the U.S. economy following the election.

During a call with analysts, CEO Jim Umpleby said that slow growth in places like Brazil and China cut into profits last year, and that he doesn't expect any returns from U.S. infrastructure spending until at least 2018. As a net exporter, the firm is optimistic about border adjusted tax reform, though a projected stronger dollar would mitigate the effects.

(function () { var attempt = 0, init = function(){ if (window.pym) { var pymParent = new pym.Parent("g-caterpillar-01-box", "https://graphics.axios.com/2017-01-26-caterpillar/caterpillar-01.html", {}); } else if (attempt++ & 40) { setTimeout(init, 50); } }; init(); })();

Data: Money.net; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Ronnie Moas of Standpoint Research placed a sell rating on the stock, arguing its rise in recent months puts too much faith in the Trump Administration's ability to execute priorities, without factoring in a backlash from trading partners.

Economic risk abounds: A delay or watering down of infrastructure spending, a hastening of the decline in China's economy, or the escalation of trade could hit American profits and deflate investor optimism.

The issue:

President Trump has called NAFTA "the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country" and tweeted that it's "been a one-sided deal from the beginning."

The facts:

The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect in 1994 and allowed for the free exchange of goods between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The removal of trade barriers led to a tripling of trade, but also a sharp in increase in the trade deficit. Here's a graph of the U.S. deficit with Mexico:

Why it matters:

Trump has vowed to renegotiate NAFTA to give U.S. workers a better deal. Eliminating NAFTA would mean more expensive goods for American consumers, and maybe more domestic manufacturing jobs. But the trade deficit is a lousy measure for any of this. More exports means more American jobs. You'd rather have $10 worth of exports and $15 worth of imports than $8 of both and no trade deficit. If higher imports are the product of unfair trade practices, and those products could be reasonably made here, shrinking the trade deficit makes sense, but not if shrinking the trade deficit comes at the expense of export growth.

2017 is looking good for luxury brands. That's because investors are confident that weakening security fears in Europe and potential U.S. tax cuts for the wealthy will lead to a strong earnings season for the high-end industry, per the WSJ.

This is the business of happiness... You buy these kinds of products when things are stable. — Bernstein luxury analyst Mario Ortelli

Much of the optimism arises from investors betting luxury consumers in the industry's best two markets — China and the U.S. — are ready to ramp up sales growth again following a shaky few years impacted by the terrorist attacks in Europe and a controversial U.S. presidential election. The S&P Global Luxury Index has already risen 4.5% so far this year, and is expected to keep climbing.

Chelsea Manning, who received a commutation last week, has an op-ed in The Guardian that says Obama has been unable to stand up to his opposition. Looking forward, Manning calls for an "unapologetic progressive leader" who isn't so quick to compromise.

Trump, who has publicly criticized Obama's decision to cut Manning's lengthy prison sentence, took to Twitter to blast Manning's open letter — calling her a "TRAITOR."

If his tweet has you wondering if he now reads The Guardian, rest assured. He probably saw it on Fox News:

Donald Trump has perfected the art of bashing the media, "the most dishonest people on earth," in his view. But no president has been more obsessed with every form of it, from traditional cable shows to, of course, Twitter. Trump's tactics could serve as clues as to how his administration will oversee and influence different forms of media over the next four years.